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Gbautauqua  iRcaDtmi  Circle  literature 

ROMAN   LIFE 

IN 

PLINY'S   TIME 

BY 

MAURICE    PELLISON 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH 

BY  MAUD    WILKINSON 

WITH   AN  INTRODUCTION 

BY  FRANK   JUSTUS    MILLER 

Professor  in  The  University  of  Chicago 


MEADVILLE  PKNNA 

FLOOD  AND  VINCENT 

Cfte  £l).uitam]u.i   £nitun.i  press 

NKW  YORK  :  CINCINNATI:  CHICAGO: 

150  Fifth  Avenue.      222  \V.  Fourth  St.      57  Washington  St. 

I897 


The  required  books  of  the  C.  L.  S.  C.  are  recommended  by 
a  Council  of  six.  It  must,  however,  be  understood  that 
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Copyright,  1897 
By  FLOOD  &  VINCENT 


The  Chaufauqua- Century  Press,  Meadville,  Pa.,   U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped,  Printed,  and  Bound  by  Flood  &  Vincent. 


MCI 

UK 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter.  Page. 

INTRODUCTION  ....    ........      9 

I.     EDUCATION  ..............     19 

II.     WOMEN  AND  MARRIAGE  ........    37 

III.  THE  ROMAN  HOUSE  ..........    58 

IV.  THE  SERVANTS  ............    80 

V.     THE  TRANSACTION  OF  BUSINESS  .....  1  1  1 

VI.  THE  BAR  ...............  136 

VII.  SOCIETY  ...............  151 

VIII.  AMUSEMENTS  .............  186 

IX.  TRAVELING  ..............  228 

X.     RETIREMENT  FROM  ACTIVE  LIFE,  DEATH, 

AND  BURIAL  .............  271 

XI.     PLINY'S  CORRESPONDENCE  .......  295 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The  Morning  Reception Frontispiece. 

Page. 

Young  Roman  Boy.  Rome 25 

Boy  Fishing.  Museum  of  Naples 27 

A  Pompeiian  Court.  From  a  painting  by  L.  Bazzani  ...  34 
Faustina,  Wife  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  Museum  of  Naples  .  .  38 

Relief  Representing  a  Sacrifice .  .  42 

Lucretia  and  Her  Maids.  From  a  painting  by  J.  Coomans.  45 

Woman's  Head.  Farnesian  Palace,  Rome 49 

Woman's  Head — said  to  be  Julia,  Wife  of  Titus.  Museum 

of  Naples 51 

Woman's  Head 55 

Remains  of  a  House  at  Pompeii 60 

Pompeiian  House-Fountain.  Museum  of  Naples 61 

Atrium  of  the  Pompeiian  House  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect , 62 

Stucco — Wall  or  Ceiling  Decoration 64 

Atrium  of  the  Pompeiian  House  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect 66 

Candelabrum 69 

Peristyle  of  the  Pompeiian  House  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect 73 

Mars  and  Venus.  Wall  Decoration.  Pompeii 74 

Tables 77 

Candelabrum 78 

Door  Knocker 82 

Door  Knocker 85 

Bronze  Hames  (Horse  Harness) 87 

Horse  Bit 88 

Heater.  Naples 97 

Key 99 

Cooking  Utensils 104 

Key 108 

Cup 117 


vi  Illustrations. 


Ostia 120 

Shop  of  an  Oil  Merchant  at  Pompeii 124 

Vase 129 

An  Orator.  Museum  of  Naples 137 

Capitoline  Hill,  Forum,  and  Surrounding  Buildings  ....  145 

A  Roman  Matron 152 

Atrium  of  the  Pompeiian  House  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect 156 

The  Appian  Way.  From  a  painting  by  Gustav  Boulanger.i6a 
Peristyle  of  the  Pompeiian  House  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect 165 

Winter  Dining-Room  of  the  Pompeiian  House  at  Saratoga 

Springs,  N.  Y.  Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect 170 

The  Vintage  Festival.  From  a  painting  by  L.  Alma- 

Tadema 174 

Peristyle  of  the  Pompeiian  House  at  Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y. 

Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect 177 

Woman's  Head.  Vatican  Museum,  Rome 181 

Amphitheater  in  Pompeii 187 

Circus  Maximus.  From  a  painting  by  Gerome 190 

Charioteer.  Vatican 194 

The  Colosseum  at  Rome 199 

Gladiator  in  Mosaic.  National  Museum,  Naples 202 

"  A ve,  Caesar,  Imperator."  From  a  painting  by  Gerome  .  .208 

"  Pollice  Verso. "  From  a  painting  by  Gerome 210 

Greave 214 

Theater  at  Herculaneum.  Restoration 218 

Gladiator's  Helmet 222 

Shield 225 

Fortune.  Museum  of  Naples 230 

Bridge  over  the  Anio,  a  few  Miles  from  Tibur 235 

Vesuvius  in  Eruption 239 

The  Judgment  of  Paris.  Pompeiian  Fresco 246 

Street  of  Fortune,  Pompeii 248 

Candelabrum 250 

The  Vatican  Library 253 

Naples 257 

Pompeii 261 

Portrait  Statue.  Vatican 265 

Tibur  (Modern  Tivoli) 272 

Falls  at  Tibur  (Modern  Tivoli) 275 


Illustrations.  vii 


Roman  Priest.     Vatican 278 

Altar  at  Ostia 281 

A  Shrine  in  a  Roman  Private  House 283 

yEsculapius.     Museum  of  Naples 285 

Tomb  at  Pompeii 290 

Columbarium  at  Rome 293 

A  Roman   Woman 300 

A  Vestal  Virgin.     Rome 302 

A  Sacrifice 304 


C.  L.  S.  C.   MOTTOES. 

WE  STUDY  THE  WORDS  AND  THE  WORKS 

OF  GOD. 
LET  us  KEEP  OUR  HEAVENLY  FATHER  IN 

THE  MIDST. 

NEVER  BE  DISCOURAGED. 
LOOK  UP  AND  LIFT  UP. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  story  of  growth  from  a  group  of  unconnected 
hill-top  settlements  upon  the  Tiber  to  a  political  organ- 
ization with  world-wide  dominion  seems  hardly  to  belong 
to  sober  history.  Great  national  development  has 
mostly  come  from  the  union  of  nations  already  existing, 
or  from  the  powerful  impetus  contributed  by  parent 
nations  to  colonial  stocks.  But  the  Roman  Empire  was 
unique  in  this.  It  sprung  from  a  single  city  which,  Roman  history 
though  it  extended  its  sway  over  the  whole  known  chy*  °' 
world,  never  ceased  to  be  not  alone  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, but  the  government  itself.  Rome  was  the  nation. 
From  her  forum  radiated  to  every  land  those  military 
roads,  the  highways  of  commerce  and  dominion,  that 
made  her  rule  a  vital  thing  wherever  her  conquering 
legions  found  their  way.  This  masterful  city  not  only 
absorbed  all  real  power,  but  gathered  up  all  the  learning, 
the  art,  the  customs  and  religions  of  the  nations  and 
made  them  her  own  ;  until  to  be  a  Roman  came  to 
mean  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  world,  and  Roman  citizen- 
ship was  a  coveted  prize  to  be  attained  at  any  cost  of 
blood  or  treasure. 

This  wide  dominion  was  attained  by  gradual  and 
natural  growth,  extending  over  hundreds  of  years.  The 
separate  settlements  on  the  hill-tops  by  the  Tiber  early  Roman  do- 

*     minion  acquired 

joined  for  self-defense  in  one  community,  with  common   by  gradual 

extension. 

cause  and  common  government.  Because  of  this  union 
they  were  able  to  master  one  by  one  all  the  isolated 
communities  by  which  they  were  surrounded,  and  grad- 
ually, after  many  hard-fought  wars,  their  sway  extended 


Introduction. 


The  conquest 
of  Greece. 


Rome's  wise 
colonial  policy. 


over  Italy.  Soon  Rome  had  occasion  to  champion  the 
cause  of  Italy  against  foreign  invasions,  and  Carthage, 
her  nearest  and  greatest  rival,  was  subdued  in  three 
great  wars.  In  the  course  of  these  struggles,  Sicily, 
Sardinia,  and  Corsica,  together  with  Northern  Africa 
and  Spain,  were  added  to  Roman  territory,  the  first 
extension  of  dominion  beyond  the  bounds  of  Italy.  In 
these  struggles  also  for  the  first  time  Rome  learned  and 
the  world  learned  that  Roman  arms  were  the  match  for 
the  strongest  foreign  foe.  The  impetus  of  conquest 
extended  next  to  Greece,  and  that  proud  land,  which 
was  full  grown  in  civilizing  arts  when  Rome  was  in  her 
infancy,  became  a  Roman  province.  Still  farther  east 
the  Roman  boundary  was  pushed  until  it  included  Asia 
Minor,  and,  at  least  in  nominal  sway,  vast  tracts  of 
Asia.  Meanwhile,  in  the  north  and  west,  Gaul,  Ger- 
many, and  Britain  were  subdued.  No  land  was  too 
barren  or  remote  to  escape  her  notice.  If  its  people 
were  wealthy  they  attracted  her  greed  of  gain  ;  if  poor 
but  brave,  her  greed  of  conquest. 

This  vast  and  heterogeneous  domain  was  welded 
together  into  one  composite  whole  by  a  wise  provincial 
and  colonial  policy.  Each  conquered  land  was  organ- 
ized into  a  Roman  province,  with  limited  home  rule, 
often  under  the  nominal  sway  of  some  trusted  native 
prince,  but  really  tributary  to  Rome  ;  under  Roman 
governors  and  Roman  fiscal  agents  golden  streams 
of  wealth  were  kept  constantly  flowing  to  the  imperial 
city.  Rome's  power  was  further  strengthened  at  re- 
mote points  by  her  colonial  system,  which  planted 
colonies  of  her  own  citizens,  largely  veteran  soldiers, 
in  the  newly  conquered  lands  ;  in  this  way  Rome  dis- 
tributed her  very  self  throughout  the  world. 

How  was  this  mighty  growth  accomplished  ?     What 


Introduction,  xi 


elements  in   the   Roman  race  predestined  her  to  wide 

dominion,    and   made   her   the  favored    nation    of   the 

earth  ?     Right  answers  to  these  questions  would  reveal  greatness. 

all  that  is  most  vital  in  the  national  history.      For  the 

history  of  a  nation,  as  of  a  man,  is  but  the  account  of 

the  working  out  of  those  forces  which  lie  at  the  basis 

of  national  and  individual  life. 

First  among  these  constructive  elements  in  Roman 
life  was  Roman  character.  This  was  made  up  of  those  ^ter?"  ° 
virtues  which  are  easily  recognized  to  be  distinctly 
Roman.  There  was  ' '  dignitas  ' '  that  dignity  or  self- 
respect  which  made  every  citizen  of  Rome  a  king,  added 
gravity  to  life,  and  forbade  flippant  trifling  with  person 
or  with  fame.  So  sacred  was  the  Roman  dignity  that 
comedy  and  satire,  which  thrive  on  personalities,  were 
forced  to  veil  their  wit  and  moderate  their  sneers.  Ro- 
man literature,  considered  not  alone  for  what  it  is,  but 
especially  for  what  it  is  not,  is  itself  a  standing  proof  of 
this  strong  sense  of  self-respect  in  the  Roman  character. 
Closely  allied  to  this  virtue  were  "  iustitia  "  and  "  con- 
stantia,"  that  righteousness  of  judgment  and  firmness  of 
execution  which  enabled  the  first  Brutus  to  forget 
paternal  love  and  condemn  his  own  sons  for  their  sin 
against  the  state  ;  which  led  Regulus  to  brave  the 
utmost  tortures  of  Carthage  that  he  might  keep  a 
Roman's  oath  ;  which  made  the  Roman  arms  invulner- 
able against  outnumbering  foes.  It  was  such  virtues  as 
these  in  the  character  of  the  early  Romans  that  laid  the 
foundations  of  Rome's  future  greatness.  These  virtues 
were  enhanced  by  the  simple,  hardy  life  of  those  earlier 
times,  when  men  like  Cincinnatus  guided  plowshare  and 
state  alike  ;  when  Cato  toiled  in  cleansing  now  his  rocky 
fields  and  now  the  Roman  senate  ;  when  Manius  Curius 
spurned  Samnite  gold  that  he  might  rule  the  Samnites. 


xii  Introduction. 


Such  qualities  in  her  citizens  predestine  any  nation  to 
dominion. 

A  second  prominent  element  in  Roman   national  life 
was  her  combined  spirit  of  conservatism  and  progress, 
servatisrn "and      This  spirit  was  manifested  in  the  tenacity  with  which  the 
progress.  Romans  held  to  established  manners,  customs,  religion, 

law,  government,  every  activity  of  life  which  assumed  a 
fixed  outward  form.  Ancestral  customs,  like  ancestors 
themselves,  were  held  in  reverence.  If  changes  came,  it 
was  only  after  evils  inherent  in  the  old  had  become 
unbearable.  In  such  a  society  no  sudden  revolution  is 
possible;  customs  .endure  until  they  become  national; 
the  Roman  toga  becomes  the  symbol  of  Roman  citizen- 
ship ;  the  eagles  of  Rome  the  emblems  of  victory  and 
dominion  ;  life,  persistent  in  its  manifestations,  becomes 
embedded  in  the  very  language  ;  and  the  state  itself,  the 
government,  endures  from  generation  to  generation, 
changing  with  the  needs  of  advancing  civilization,  but 
free  from  destructive  upheavals.  This  spirit  of  resist- 
ance to  the  new  was  most  strikingly  attested  by  the 
bitter  struggle  which  the  old  religion  maintained  to  the 
last  against  the  fresh  and  irresistible  power  of  the 
young  Christianity. 

But  Rome's  conservatism  did  not  prevent  her  accept- 
ing, from  any  source,  whatever  promised  any  real 
advantage.  Her  receptive  and  digestive  powers  were 
enormous,  she  borrowed  and  imitated  freely  from  every 
hand,  and  every  nation  subdued  by  Rome  left  a  material 
impress  upon  Roman  civilization.  While  statecraft, 
law,  and  war,  together  with  the  development  of  domestic 
economy  and  life,  were  all  her  own,  her  literature, 
religion,  philosophy,  and  arts  were  deeply  influenced 
by  addition  and  imitation  from  many  outside  sources, 
especially  from  the  Greeks.  Such  a  cosmopolitan  cul- 


Introduction.  xiii 


ture,  joined  to   native  strength,    contributed   much   to 
Rome's  preeminence. 

Great  weight  must  also  be  given  in  considering  the 
elements  of  Rome's  greatness,  to  her  amazing  genius  for 
law  and  statecraft.  These,  as  has  just  been  said,  were 
all  her  own.  So  keen  was  her  legal  instinct,  so  wise  her  . 

Genius  for  law 

legislation,  and  so  sound  the  development  of  her  consti-  and  statecraft, 
tution,  that  Rome  may  justly  be  said  to  have  laid  the 
foundations  of  law  and  order  for  the  whole  civilized 
world.  This  genius  was  closely  related  to  the  Roman 
characteristic  of  justice  which  proceeded  with  such  calm- 
ness of  judgment  and  clearness  of  vision  with  reference 
to  right.  It  was  related  to  Roman  conservatism  also, 
in  that  the  presumption  was  always  in  favor  of  estab- 
lished law  or  custom,  and  every  advance  was  the  result 
of  growth.  None  but  the  Roman  genius  could  have 
established  a  home  government  that  should  endure  with 
little  change  for  so  many  centuries  ;  none  could  have 
maintained  even  if  it  could  have  acquired  so  vast  and 
unwieldy  an  empire.  At  a  time  when  transportation 
was  at  best  very  slow,  when  communication  of  any  sort 
with  distant  regions  was  exceedingly  difficult,  even  the 
limited  world  of  that  time  was  vastly  larger  than  the 
complete  world  of  to-day.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  this, 
Rome's  great  domain  was  ordered  and  controlled  in 
every  detail  by  Roman  law.  Not  only  her  civic  power 
but  even  the  influence  of  her  very  fashions  was  felt  in 
the  remotest  province  ;  the  barbarous  Briton  vied  with 
Mede  and  Parthian  in  learning  Roman  arts  and  man- 
ners ;  those  who  began  by  proudly  refusing  to  learn  the 
Roman  language,  ended  by  striving  for  distinction  in 
eloquence  ;  and,  as  has  been  already  said,  to  acquire 
the  toga  of  citizenship  was  the  provincial's  highest  am- 
bition. 


xiv  Introduction. 


But  Rome  had  also  a  marked  genius  for  war.      Even 

Genius  for  war.     ...  .... 

if  the  traditional  Romulus  be  rejected  with  his  military 
establishment  and  government  of  Rome,  certain  it  is 
that  the  military  and  civil  development  of  the  nation 
went  hand  in  hand  from  the  first.  That  very  popular 
assembly  which  had  all  real  political  power,  the  comilia 
centuriata,  was  organized  on  a  purely  military  basis. 
"The  whole  people,  patricians  and  plebeians,  were 
divided  into  five  classes  according  to  a  property  qualifi- 
cation, and  each  of  these  five  classes  was  subdivided 
into  a  certain  number  of  voting  units.  In  addition  to 
these  there  were  eighteen  centuries  of  knights  and  four 
centuries  of  musicians,  smiths,  and  carpenters.  The 
people,  in  fact,  were  here  looked  upon  as  an  army  and 
divided  into  fighting  bodies.  The  one  hundred  and 
seventy  centuries  of  the  five  classes  were  all  infantry  ; 
the  cavalry  was  formed  of  the  eighteen  centuries  of 
knights."  Founded  upon  a  military  basis,  Rome  long 
continued  a  nation  of  warriors,  whose  every  citizen  by 
virtue  of  his  franchise  was  a  soldier.  The  Roman  peas- 
antry, like  the  English  yeomanry,  were  designed  by 
nature  for  perfect  soldiers.  Hardy  sons  of  the  soil,  they 
became  inured  by  their  daily  life  to  all  the  hardships 
that  war  could  bring  ;  while  their  constant  struggles 
both  in  Rome's  defense  and  for  the  extension  of  her 
power  made  them  a  nation  of  veterans.  It  was  in  this 
' '  hard  school  of  war ' '  that  the  true  Roman  ' '  virtus, ' ' 
or  manhood,  according  to  their  sturdy  ideals,  was 
developed,  a  virtue  which  scorned  peril,  and  looked 
upon  a  life  of  hardship  as  ideal.  These  were  the  sol- 
diers who  formed  the  famous  legions  of  Rome,  those 
thunderbolts  of  war  which  were  well  nigh  irresistible  on 
countless  battlefields.  Nor  were  there  worthy  generals 
wanting  to  a  worthy  army.  In  the  long  line  of  military 


Introduction.  xv 


heroes  that  the  world  has  known,  high  rank  has  always 
been  awarded  to  the  Scipios,  the  Fabii,  the  Caesars,  the 
Pompeys,  the  Agricolas  of  Rome.  These  men  were  not 
merely  leaders  on  the  field  ;  they  were  masters  of  the  art 
of  war,  and  established  principles  of  military  strategy 
which  have  been  the  objects  of  the  study  of  the  world's 
great  captains  since  their  day.  It  was  such  soldier- 
statesmen  as  these  that  first  acquired  empire,  and  then 
placed  it  upon  stable  foundations. 

Closely  linked  with  Rome's  military  prowess,  as  an 

3  The  effect 

element  of  progress,  was  her  mighty  "swing  of  con-  of  conquest, 
quest."  This  has  a  powerful  effect  whether  considered 
subjectively  or  objectively.  On  the  one  hand,  the  con- 
sciousness of  power  begotten  of  long  success  produces 
a  belief  in  one' sown  invincibility  which  compels  victory  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  very  name  and  reputation 
of  success  serve  as  an  advance  guard  which  subdues 
enemies  without  a  blow.  So  it  was  with  Rome.  The 
consciousness  of  power  nerved  her  arm  to  the  blows  of 
battle,  and  the  prestige  of  the  Roman  name  not  infre- 
quently obviated  the  necessity  of  battle  and  won  her 
bloodless  victories. 

But  not  war  and  government  alone,  but  letters  also 
had  an  important  part  in  Rome's  development.  Her  iftera^re°tet 
first  contact  with  Greece,  which  came  early  in  the  of  RomPenient 
advance  of  her  conquest,  started  a  train  of  Hellenizing 
influence  in  Roman  society  which  never  ceased. 
Though  much  more  slowly  and  imperceptibly,  still  none 
the  less  surely  and  completely  did  Greece  master  her 
conqueror.  In  all  matters  pertaining  to  literature, 
philosophy,  and  the  arts,  she  was  the  acknowledged 
leader.  Roman  poetic  form  was  fashioned  upon  her 
faultless  meters  ;  Roman  drama  followed  her  plots  ; 
Roman  oratory  was  based  upon  her  models  ;  Roman 


xvi  Introduction. 


philosophy  was  but  a  recapitulation  of  her  wisdom.  But 
letters,  even  if  exotic,  found  in  Italy  congenial  soil.  In 
the  interval  of  battling  for  existence  and  conquest  that 
followed  her  long  struggles  with  Carthage,  Rome  found 
time  to  think  of  finer  things  ;  and  in  this  interval  old 
Ennius  sang  the  annals  of  Rome's  greatness  ;  while  the 
rude  farces  that  had  entertained  the  populace  gave  way 
to  Latin  versions  of  the  Greek  comedians.  From  these 
beginnings  Roman  letters  grew  in  polish,  dignity,  and 
grace,  until  the  climax  was  reached  in  the  full  burst  of 
The  Augus-  Roman  song  in  the  golden  period  of  the  Augustan  Age. 
In  this  age  of  peace  and  freedom  from  distractions  of 
every  kind  the  gentle  arts  reached  their  highest  devel- 
opment. Never  before  were  men  of  letters  so  honored 
and  fostered  by  the  leaders  of  the  state  ;  never  before 
had  there  been  such  inspiration  for  the  poetic  fancy  as 
was  now  furnished  by  the  power  and  glory  and  the  ever- 
increasing  beauty  of  Rome. 

And  yet  Rome  fell.  Notwithstanding  the  slow  and 
safely  conservative  nature  of  her  growth,  which  should 
have  given  strength  even  to  colossal  size  ;  in  spite 
of  those  sterling  elements  in  the  Roman  character 
which  should  have  insured  a  sound  national  heart  ; 
in  spite  of  that  progressive  spirit  which  caught  and 
assimilated  all  elements  of  good  from  every  source  ; 
Rome's  do-  in  spite  of  that  genius  for  government  which  set  itself 
t£id'e°cayestined  the  task  of  organizing  the  whole  world  into  one  mighty 
state,  and  almost  realized  the  superb  dream  of  unifying 
all  mankind  ;  in  spite  of  a  military  organization  embed- 
ded in  the  very  foundations  of  the  state,  whose  legions 
were  the  most  perfect  weapons  of  warfare  that  the  world 
had  known  ;  in  spite  of  that  generous  aesthetic  develop- 
ment which  refined  and  glorified  this  material  strength 
and  splendor  ; — in  spite  of  all  this,  Rome  fell.  Not  all 


Introduction.  xvii 


at  once,  for  no  nation  ever  fell  in  one  abrupt  ruin,  but 
in  a  ruin  no  less  complete  because  gradual,  extending 
over  centuries  of  time.  While  she  was  still  in  the 
height  of  her  glory  there  were  already  plainly  discern- 
ible those  elements  of  disintegration  which  were  des- 
tined to  undermine  her  power  and  parcel  out  her  vast 
domain  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

What  were  these  elements  of  decay  ?  They  are  to  be 
found  chiefly  in  the  perversions  of  the  very  elements  pfdeca^foo 
which  fed  her  strength.  Because  of  the  greatness  and  "km  o/th™e 
splendor  of  Rome  vast  numbers  of  citizens  were  attracted  Itrength.° 
from  the  farms  and  towns  of  Italy,  where  had  been  bred 
the  strong  bone  and  sinew  of  the  state.  Here  in  the  city, 
vast  numbers  were  pauperized  by  the  largesses  of  food 
aud  public  entertainment  furnished  by  the  state,  and 
grew  into  an  ever-increasing  menace  to  the  moral  health 
of  the  body  politic.  The  national  spirit  of  acquisition 
inevitably  bred  a  spirit  of  greed  in  individuals,  and  all 
society  became  absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth. 
Wealth  poured  in  in  vast  streams,  to  be  followed  by 
ever-increasing  luxury.  Great  tracts  of  land  were  now 
diverted  from  useful  to  ornamental  purposes.  Small 
farms  were  replaced  by  great  estates,  and  the  entire 
class  of  farmers,  the  sturdy  peasantry  of  older  Rome, 
disappeared.  While  from  Greece  came  the  refining  and 
elevating  influences  of  literature  and  art,  there  came  in 
the  train  of  these  many  elements  of  moral  degradation. 
The  simple  old  national  religion  of  Rome,  comparatively 
spiritual  and  pure,  was  invaded  and  superseded  by  the 
debasing  divinities  that  held  their  court  on  Mt.  Olym- 
pus, and  by  the  still  more  bestial  gods  of  Egypt  and  the 
Orient.  Meanwhile,  as  Rome  became  more  cosmopoli- 
tan, simpler  fashions  of  life  were  replaced  by  elegance 
and  luxury,  the  enervating  influences  of  which  struck  at 


xviii  Introduction. 

the  home,  the  very  heart  of  society.  Governors  were 
not  exempt  from  the  national  greed  of  gain,  and  pil- 
laged the  provinces  which  they  were  set  to  govern  until 
the  name  of  Rome  became  a  synonym  for  oppression 
and  an  object  of  hate.  The  very  armies  were  no  longer 
composed  of  citizen  soldiers,  but  of  aliens,  who  fought, 
not  for  fatherland  but  for  their  daily  wage.  Ambitious 
leaders  struggled  for  the  mastery  and  no  blood  or 
treasure  was  sacred  that  stood  in  the  way  of  their  suc- 
cess. 

Such  is  the  background  for  the  study  of  Roman  man- 
The  relation  of    ners  at  the  end  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era, 

private  life  of 

citizens  to  the      a  picture  with  its  high  lights  of  strength  and  growth,  and 
state.  with  its  dark  shades  of  weakness  and  decay.      In  a  study 

of  the  national  structure,  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  the 
state  was  built  of  men,  and  that  these  men  had  all  the 
ordinary  human  interests  that  absorb  so  large  a  part  of 
life  in  the  present  day.  The  ensuing  chapters  will  assist 
in  this  realization  as  they  describe  the  every-day  life  of 
the  people.  Such  a  study  as  the  following  chapters 
contain  will  be  of  value  not  only  as  it  increases  the 
reader's  store  of  facts,  but  chiefly  as  it  leads  to  a 
clearer  comprehension  of  the  fact  that  all  history  is  the 
history  of  men,  and  that  the  life  of  a  state  is  the  com- 
posite of  the  lives  of  all  its  citizens. 

FRANK  J.   MILLER. 
The  University  of  Chicago, 
June  /,  1897. 


ROMAN  LIFE  IN  PLINY'S  TIME. 
CHAPTER  I. 

EDUCATION. 

THE  age  of   the  Antonines  was  characterized    by  a 

'          The  age  of 

number  of  transformations  in  the  manners  of  the  Ro-  the  Antonines. 
mans.  One  of  the  most  interesting  of  these  was  that 
which  took  place  in  the  attitude  of  fathers  toward  their 
children.  This  might  almost  be  compared  with  the 
domestic  revolution  upon  which  M.  Legouve"  remarks 
in  his  studies  on  education  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Children  [says  he]  occupy  to-day  a  much  more  important 
position  in  the  family.  Their  parents  live  more  with  them  ; 
they  live  more  for  them  ;  they  attend  more  to  their  health, 
watch  more  over  their  education,  think  more  about  their  well- 
being,  listen  more  to  their  opinions.  The  children  have  almost 
become  the  principal  personages  of  the  house  ;  and  a  witty  man 
expressed  the  spirit  of  this  fact  in  a  single  phrase,  when  he  said, 
"Their  highnesses  the  children  "  (Messieurs  les  enfants}. 

If  some  moralist,  contemporary  of  Trajan  or  of 
Marcus  Aurelius,  had  had  the  leisure  and  the  desire  to 
study  the  domestic  life  of  a  Roman  family,  he  would 
have  been  struck  by  a  very  similar  change.  At  Rome  A  father.s 
the  rights  of  a  father  of  a  family  over  his  children  were  ft°swc"i°drren. 
unlimited.  The  new-born  child  was  laid  at  his  feet.  If 
he  wished  to  recognize  it,  he  stooped  and  took  it  in 
his  arms.  If  he  turned  away  from  it,  the  child  was 
carried  out  of  the  house  and  exposed  in  the  street. 
When  it  did  not  die  of  hunger  and  cold,  it  belonged  to 
any  one  who  was  willing  to  burden  himself  with  it,  and 

19 


2o  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

became  his  slave.  The  father  always  held  over  his  son 
the  right  of  life  and  death.  Doubtless  but  few  used 
this  terrible  right.  We  know,  however,  that  Augustus, 
suspecting  his  daughter  Julia  of  adultery,  did  not  hesi- 

Seneca's  view,  tate  to  have  her  child  killed.  The  philosopher  Seneca, 
who  has  written  so  much  that  is  eloquent  and  noble, 
finds  it  very  natural,  and  quite  reasonable,  that  crippled 

Cicero's  view,  and  deformed  children  should  be  drowned  ;  and  Cicero, 
who  loved  so  fondly  his  dear  Tullia,  said  brutally  in  the 
Tusculan  disputations  : 

If  a  young  child  dies,  the  survivors  ought  to  bear  his  loss 
with  equanimity  ;  if  an  infant  in  the  cradle  dies,  they  ought  not 
even  to  utter  a  complaint. 

Under  the  republic,  at  the  dawn  of  the  empire,  there 
affection  for  was,  as  we  see,  quite  an  absence  of  any  tender  feeling 
children.  for  childhood.  It  was  in  vain  that  Terence  had,  in 

some  of  his  writings,  delightfully  expressed  and  recom- 
mended this  sentiment. 

Manners   grew    milder   under   the   Antonines.      The 
Favonnus'  °f     philosopher  Favorinus,  in  pathetic  language,   besought 
mothers  to  nurse  their  own  children. 

Is  it  not  [he  said  to  mothers]  an  outrage  against  nature,  is  it 
not  being  only  half  a  mother,  to  reject  one's  child  just  after 
having  given  it  life?  Is  it  consistent  to  nourish  with  one's 
blood,  in  one's  body,  some  unknown  thing,  and  then  to  refuse 
to  nourish  it  with  one's  milk,  when  one  sees  it  alive,  and  when 
it  is  a  human  being  ? 

Plutarch,  about  the  same  time,  wrote  a  treatise  on 
tp^hinh  S  *  education.  The  pages  of  this  book  are  full  of  affection 
for  childhood.  Care  should  be  taken,  according  to 
Plutarch,  not  to  require  too  much  of  young  children  ; 
they  should  be  refreshed  by  wholesome  recreation,  for 
' '  rest  is  the  sauce  of  labor. ' '  The  father,  who  must 
put  the  finishing  touch  upon  the  education  of  his  son, 


Education.  2 1 

should  freely  exercise  indulgence,  remembering  that  the 
boy  is  to  be  won  to  follow  liberal  studies  by  ' '  exhorta-  be^ 
tions  and  rational  motives,  and  on  no  account  to  be  by  fathers- 
forced  thereto  by  whipping."  This  was  a  precept 
which  the  fathers  of  the  time  of  Plautus  did  not  under- 
stand, or  at  any  rate  practiced  but  little.  They  gave 
their  children  over  to  masters,  who,  when  one  of  their 
pupils  made  a  mistake  in  a  single 'syllable  of  his  lesson, 
made  "his  skin  as  spotted  as  his  nurse's  gown." 
Good  fathers,  according  to  Plutarch,  will  refrain  from 
such  harshness.  "They  may  occasionally,"  he  says, 
"loosen  the  reins  and  allow  their  children  to  take 
some  liberties  they  are  inclined  to,  and  again,  when  it 
is  fit,  manage  them  with  a  straighter  bridle.  But 
chiefly  should  they  bear  their  errors  without  passion  if 
it  may  be." 

If  we  wish  to  measure  the  progress  which  the  Romans 
had  made  toward  a  milder  treatment  of  their  children,  it  Marcus 

Aurelius  in  his 

will  be  sufficient  to  call  to  mind  the  family  picture  of  family. 
Marcus  Aurelius,  which  M.    Boissier  has  drawn  for  us 
from  the  correspondence  of  Fronto  with  the  emperor. 

However  young  the  children  are,  their  ailments  are  the 
anxiety  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  How  sadly  he  speaks  of  the 
croup  from  which  his  daughters  are  suffering,  and  the  obstinate 
cough  of  his  "dear  little  Antoninus"!  This  charming  little 
brood,  as  he  calls  it,  occupies  him  almost  as  much  as  the 
empire.  Any  one  who  talks  to  him  about  it  is  sure  to  please 
him,  and  Fronto  does  not  fail,  when  he  writes  to  him,  to  send  a 
greeting  "  to  the  little  ladies,"  and  kisses  for  "their  little  fat 
feet  and  their  pretty  little  hands." 

This  progress  was  not  limited  to  the  family  circle  ;  it 

'  Abandoned 

was   strengthened    by    public    institutions.       Formerly,    children, 
abandoned  children,  as  we  have  seen,  became  the  slaves 
of  those  who  picked  them  up  ;  often  they  were  treated 
with  kindness  and  regarded  as  adopted   children  ;  but 


22 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s    Time. 


The 

comprachicos. 


Trajan's 
attempt  at 
reform. 


Mistaken 
kindness 
toward 
children. 


Quintilian's 
complaint. 


often,  too,  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  horrible  traffick- 
ers, the  comprachicos  of  antiquity,  speculators  in  public 
misery,  who  mutilated  them  in  order  to  make  beggars 
of  them. 

Come  [cries  a  rhetorician,  addressing  one  of  these  wretched 
dealers  in  the  sufferings  of  children],  bring  on  all  those  corpses, 
which  can  scarcely  drag  themselves  along  ;  show  us  your  troop 
of  the  blind,  the  lame,  and  the  famished.  Take  me  into  your 
den  ;  I  wish  to  see  this  workshop  of  human  calamities,  this 
morgue  of  children. 

To  Trajan  belongs  the  honor  of  having  been  among 
the  first  to  put  a  check  upon  this  hideous  business.  In 
his  correspondence  with  Pliny  we  find  him  interested  in 
organizing  public  aid  for  abandoned  children,  and  from 
his  tone  in  speaking  of  the  importance  of  this  matter, 
we  feel  that  it  lay  near  to  his  heart. 

But  all  progress  is  necessarily  at  first  accompanied  by 
difficulties  and  excesses.  Tenderness  for  children  was 
often  developed  at  the  expense  of  the  wholesome  max- 
ims which  had  formerly  been  observed  in  the  process  of 
their  education  ;  and  often  affection  degenerated  into 
mere  compliance  with  their  whims,  and  proper  indul- 
gence into  weakness.  The  writers  of  the  first  century 
after  Christ  mourn  this  enfeeblement  of  paternal  author- 
ity. In  their  concert  of  lamentations,  the  voice  of  Quin- 
tilian  is  heard  the  loudest  : 

Would  that  we  ourselves  did  not  corrupt  the  morals  of  our 
children  !  We  enervate  their  very  infancy  with  luxuries.  That 
delicacy  of  education,  which  we  call  fondness,  weakens  all  the 
powers  both  of  body  and  mind.  .  .  .  We  form  the  palate 
of  our  children  before  we  form  their  pronunciation.  They 
grow  up  in  sedan-chairs  ;  if  they  touch  the  ground,  they  hang 
by  the  hands  of  attendants  supporting  them  on  each  side. 

We  are  delighted  if  they  utter  anything  immodest.  Ex- 
pressions which  would  not  be  tolerated  even  from  the  effemi- 


Education.  23 

nate  youths  of  Alexandria,  we  bear  from  them  with  a  smile  and 
a  kiss.  Nor  is  this  wonderful  :  we  have  taught  them  ;  they 
have  heard  such  language  from  ourselves.  They  see  our  mis- 
tresses, our  male  objects  of  affection  ;  every  dining-room  rings 
with  impure  songs  ;  things  shameful  to  be  told  are  objects  of 
sight.  From  such  practices  springs  habit,  and  afterward 
nature.  The  unfortunate  children  learn  their  vices  before  they 
know  that  they  are  vices. 

It   is   against  such    excesses   that  Juvenal  wrote  his  Juvenal's 

J  warning. 

Fourteenth  Satire  : 

So  Nature  prompts  ;  drawn  by  her  secret  tie, 
We  view  a  parent's  deeds  with  reverent  eye  ; 
With  fatal  haste,  alas  !  the  example  take, 
And  love  the  sin,  for  the  dear  sinner's  sake. 

O  fatal  guides  !  this  reason  should  suffice 
To  win  you  from  the  slippery  route  of  vice, 
This  powerful  reason  ;  lest  your  sons  pursue 
The  guilty  track,  thus  plainly  marked  by  you  ! 
For  youth  is  facile,  and  its  yielding  will 
Receives,  with  fatal  ease,  the  imprint  of  ill. 

Swift  from  the  roof  where  youth,  Fuscinus,  dwell, 

Immodest  rites,  immodest  sounds  expel ; 

The  place  is  sacred  ;  far,  far  hence,  remove, 

Ye  venal  votaries  of  illicit  love  ! 

Ye  dangerous  knaves,  who  pander  to  be  fed, 

And  sell  yourselves  to  infamy  for  bread  ! 

Reverence  to  children,  as  to  heaven,  is  due. 

Admirable  words  !  They  express  the  true  principles 
of  early  education — to  love  your  child,  that  he  may  not 
cease  to  be  lovable  and  happy,  but  to  respect  him  also, 
remembering  that  to-morrow  he  will  become  a  man  and 
a  citizen. 

It   was  at  this  epoch,   when  questions  of  education   public  instruc- 
were  receiving  the  attention  of  noble  minds,  that  public  tlon' 
instruction    was   first   provided  for.     While  in   Greece 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Encourage- 
ment by  the 
emperors. 

Vespasian. 


Hadrian. 


Antoninus 
Pius. 


Marcus 
Aurelius. 


Pliny's 
interest  in  a 
public  school  of 
his  native 
town. 


legislators  had  always  been  active  in  establishing 
schools,  at  Rome  the  state  had  taken  no  responsibil- 
ity in  the  matter  of  education.  Polybius  and  Cicero 
expressed  much  surprise  at  this  negligence.  But  under 
the  Antonines  the  emperors  interested  themselves  in 
the  establishment  of  schools.  Vespasian  was  the  first 
to  give  pay  to  the  Greek  and  Latin  rhetoricians.  He 
allowed  Quintilian  a  salary  equivalent  to  about  $5,000 
in  our  money.  M.  Boissier  says,  in  his  work  entitled 
"The  Religion  of  the  Romans  from  Augustus  to  the 
Antonines" : 

The  biographer  of  Hadrian  tells  us  that  this  emperor  be- 
stowed honors  and  riches  upon  professors  in  every  branch 
of  learning,  and  that  when  he  found  that  they  were  incapable  of 
discharging  their  duties,  he  dismissed  them  from  their  chairs 
after  having  paid  them  well.  He  established  at  Rome,  in  the 
capitol  itself,  a  sort  of  university  or  academy,  called  the  Ath- 
enaeum, where  people  flocked  to  heaTr  the  orators  and  poets  of 
renown.  Antoninus  Pius  granted  many  privileges  to  the  phi- 
losophers and  rhetoricians  of  all  the  provinces,  and  provided 
them  with  salaries.  Finally,  Marcus  Aurelius  established  and 
endowed  four  chairs  of  philosophy  in  Athens.  Each  of  the 
four  masters  who  filled  these  chairs  was  to  teach  the  principles 
of  a  different  school  of  philosophy,  and  each  master  received  a 
salary  of  10,000  drachmae  [about  fi,ooo]  from  the  public 
treasury. 

This  movement  at  Rome,  encouraged  by  the  em- 
perors, soon  extended  to  the  smaller  towns.  Pliny, 
who  was  so  much  interested  in  intellectual  matters, 
exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  to  found  a  public  school 
at  Comum,  his  native  town.  He  did  not  think  it  be- 
neath him,  although  a  renowned  man  of  letters,  an 
illustrious  advocate,  an  official  orator,  to  spend  his  time 
seeking  teachers  for  his  young  fellow-townsmen.  What 
is  more,  he  besought  even  Tacitus  to  aid  him  in  his 
attempts,  so  keen  was  the  interest  which  he  felt  in  this 


Education. 


enterprise.  Moreover,  the  enthusiasm  which  he  ex- 
hibited in  this  undertaking  was  not  of  a  purely  Platonic 
character,  for  he  contributed  money  toward  the  carrying 
on  of  the  work. 

Now  I  have  no  children  myself  at  present  [he  said  to  an 
inhabitant  of  Comum],  and  I  will  willingly  contribute  to  a  contribution, 
design  so  beneficial  to  my 
country,  which  I  look  upon 
in  the  light  of  a  child,  or  a 
parent,  a  third  part  of  any 
sum  you  may  think  proper 
to  raise  for  this  purpose.  I 
would  take  upon  myself 
the  whole  expense,  were  I 
not  apprehensive  of  my 
benefaction  being  hereafter 
abused  and  perverted  to 
private  ends,  as  I  have 
observed  to  be  the  case 
in  several  places  where 
teachers  are  engaged  at 
the  public  expense.  The 
only  way  of  meeting  this 
evil  is  to  leave  the  choosing 
of  the  professors  solely  in 
the  hands  of  the  parents, 
whose  obligation  to  make 
a  proper  choice  will  be 
enforced  by  the  necessity 
of  having  to  pay  toward 
the  professors'  salaries. 

Schools  thus  founded 
were  not  open  only  for 
those  whom  fortune  had 
favored  with  wealth.  YOUNG  ROMAN  BOY.  Rome. 

So  strong  was  the  con- 
viction that  education    is   beneficial,   that  efforts   were   Assistance  for 

students  of 

made  to  help  those  who,  on  account  of  limited  means,    limited  means. 


26 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Public  or 
private 


Quintilian's 
conception  of 
education. 


Nurses. 


The  alphabet. 


would  otherwise  be  unable  to  attend  school.  Trajan 
was  the  first  to  establish  funds  to  be  expended  in  the 
education  of  poor  but  promising  young  persons.  And 
Pliny  followed  at  Comum  the  example  which  the 
emperor  set  in  the  capital.  Student  aid  funds,  we  see, 
are  of  ancient  and  illustrious  origin. 

From  this  time  the  respective  advantages  of  private 
and  of  public  education  were  discussed  by  the  thinkers 
of  the  day.  Quintilian  devoted  a  chapter  to  this  sub- 
ject, and  being  in  the  question  both  judge  and  pleader 
he  decided  emphatically  in  favor  of  public  instruction. 
Many  parents,  however,  wished  to  keep  their  children 
near  them  ;  and  such  parents  often  took  the  greatest 
pains  to  cultivate  the  minds  of  their  sons  and  to  give 
them  all  possible  advantages  for  acquiring  knowledge. 
Pliny,  as  we  learn  from  his  letters,  was  several  times 
commissioned  to  choose  tutors  for  the  children  of  his 
friends,  and  he  was  much  impressed  with  the  serious- 
ness of  his  responsibility,  and  evidently  felt  honored  that 
parents  should  trust  him  with  a  matter  of  such  grave 
importance  in  their  eyes. 

What,  then,  was  the  nature  of  this  education  whose 
progress  had  become  the  object  of  general  attention  ? 
The  first  books  of  Quintilian  give  us  valuable  infor- 
mation on  this  subject. 

Quintilian  held  that  education  should  begin  from  the 
cradle.  For  this  reason  he  thought  that  nurses  should 
be  cultivated  women.  But  Quintilian,  carried  away 
by  his  subject,  is  not  always  free  from  exaggeration. 
Doubtless  parents  thought  his  advice  hard  to  follow, 
and  probably  the  instruction  of  children  began  at  about 
the  age  of  seven.  The  alphabet  was  the  first  thing 
to  be  learned.  As  long  ago  as  this,  care  was  taken  to 
make  study  attractive,  and  the  little  learner  was  fur- 


Education, 


nished  with  ornamented  ivory  letters,  which  he  enjoyed 
using,   and  which    he   regarded   as   toys.      Next   came 
writing.     The  writing  masters,  who  were  as  skilful  as  Writing. 
those  of  our  day,   would  place  in  the  hands  of  their 
pupils  tablets,  where,  in  the  wax,  grooves  were  traced 
to  guide  the  pencil  of  the  beginner.     The  models  set  to 
be  copied  were  chosen  with  care,  and  contained  maxims 
of    morality 
rather  than  idle 
phrases.    When 
these  first  steps 
were   accom- 
plished,   the 
child  was  passed 
on  to  the  gram- 
marians.      It 
seems   that  the 
study  of  gram- 
mar,  which  we 
so  justly  regard, 
as  important, 
was  not  held  in 
very   high   es- 
teem   by    the 
Romans  of  this 
time.   This  may 
probably  be  accounted 

the  subject  was  then  taught.  For,  if  we 
Quintilian,  the  instruction  given  in  grammar  was  not 
free  from  pedantry  and  was  characterized  by  much 
subtlety.  As  soon  as  the  child  understood  the  art  of 
speaking  correctly  and  knew  how  to  explain  the  poets 
(these  were  the  two  results  which  the  study  of  grammar 
sought) ,  he  was  taught  the  principles  of  reading  aloud,  Reading  aloud. 


Grammar. 


Bov  FISHING.    Museum  of  Naples. 

for    by  the   manner  in   which 
may  trust 


28 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Rhetoric, 
philosophy, 
and  music. 


Object  of  the 

Roman 

education. 


by  which,  says  Quintilian,  "a  boy  may  know  when  to 
take  breath,  where  to  divide  a  verse,  where  the  sense  is 
concluded,  where  it  begins,  when  the  voice  is  to  be 
raised  or  lowered,  what  is  to  be  uttered  with  any 
particular  inflection  of  sound,  or  what  is  to  be  pro- 
nounced with  greater  slowness  or  rapidity,  with  greater 
animation  or  gentleness  than  other  passages. ' ' 

So  the  principles  in  the  art  of  reading  aloud  which 
M.  Legouve1  teaches  were  taught  long  ago  in  the 
Roman  schools. 

When  the  child  becomes  a  youth,  more  advanced 
studies  are  entered  upon — philosophy,  music,  and  rhet- 
oric, which  comprises  oratory.  Quintilian  holds  that 
these  three  branches  should  be  carried  on  simultane- 
ously : 

Ought  we  to  attend  to  the  teacher  of  grammar  only,  and 
then  to  the  teacher  of  geometry  only,  and  cease  to  think, 
during  the  second  course,  of  what  we  learned  in  the  first? 
Should  we  then  transfer  ourselves  to  the  musician,  our  pre- 
vious studies  being  still  allowed  to  escape  us  ?  .  .  .  Why, 
then,  do  we  not  give  similar  counsel  to  husbandmen,  that  they 
should  not  cultivate  at  the  same  time  their  fields  and  their 
vineyards,  their  olives  and  other  trees,  and  that  they  should 
not  bestow  attention  at  once  on  their  meadows,  their  cattle, 
their  gardens,  and  their  beehives  ? 

But  do  not  be  misled  by  this  variety  of  subjects  into 
supposing  that  the  Roman  schools,  like  ours,  prepared 
men  to  be  specialists,  that  they  turned  out  geometri- 
cians or  musicians.  No,  these  various  sciences  were 
taught  only  for  the  sake  of  the  more  perfect  acquisition 
of  the  art  which  crowned  them  all — the  art  of  oratory. 

Although  the  empire  had  succeeded  in  quieting  the 
forum,  and  in  excluding  eloquence  from  the  domain  of 
politics,  the  art  of  public  speaking  continued  to  be 
cultivated  as  much  as  ever  at  Rome.  This  was  due  to 


Education.  29 


the  influence  of  tradition  and  to  inherited  taste.  Under 
the  republic,  when  eloquence  was  the  gate  to  every  ^fn?niCunde 
sphere  of  distinction,  the  young  Romans  trained  them-  the  republic, 
selves  in  oratory  by  listening,  at  the  forum,  day  after 
day,  to  some  important  politician  or  some  illustrious 
advocate,  and  they  completed  their  preparation  in  the 
privacy  of  their  own  houses,  by  an  exercise  called 
declamation.  They  would  invent,  for  instance,  a  diffi- 
cult law  case,  or  perhaps  imagine  some  political  ques- 
tion, worthy  of  exciting  the  passion  of  an  assembly, 
and  alone,  in  the  quiet  of  a  secluded  study,  they  would 
seek  for  ingenious  arguments  or  stirring  appeals. 

But  under  the  empire  the  public  square  became  silent, 
the  debates  of  the  court  dwindled  into  insignificance. 
No  matter  ;  the  young  men  continued  to  prepare  them- 
selves for  struggles  which  could  no  longer  exist,  and 
declamation,  which  formerly  was  only  a  means,  became  Declamation 

3  J  under  the 

an  end  in  itself.  What  seems  surprising  at  first  thought  empire, 
is  that  political  subjects  were  most  eagerly  selected  for 
treatment,  and  seemed  most  attractive  to  the  rhetorical 
professors  of  the  day  as  exercises  for  their  pupils.  Ju- 
venal, at  forty  years  of  age,  was  perhaps  still,  with  a 
great  array  of  antitheses  and  apostrophes,  advising 
Sully  to  lay  down  his  power  ;  tyrants  long  ago  pros- 
trate were  being  executed  by  entire  classes  of  students 
in  speeches  as  brilliant  as  harmless.  Men  were  glad  to 
revive  from  the  past  occasions  for  expressing  the  senti- 
ments which  they  were  forced  to  stifle  in  regard  to  the 
present.  They  found  this  a  certain  relief  in  the  extreme 
servitude  to  which  they  felt  themselves  subjected  by 
some  of  the  emperors.  And  the  rulers  themselves  un- 
derstood, without  doubt,  that  it  was  for  their  own 
advantage  to  allow  the  young  men  to  spend  thus  their 
noble  impetuosity  ;  for  we  find  no  example  of  a  school 


30  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s    Time. 

of  oratory  being  closed,  or  the  professors  persecuted  by 
governmental  authority.  The  princes  thought  that 
practical  experience  would  impress  its  own  lesson  upon 
these  heated  imaginations,  and  that  life,  in  teaching 
these  great  scholars  to  endure  life,  would  cool  their 
ardor  for  things  long  past  and  their  noble  rage  over 
forgotten  wrongs.  Skeptics,  moreover,  were  not  want- 
criticisms  ing  to  laugh  at  these  oratorical  triumphs  won  in  the  ob- 

passed  upon  o  o  r 

schoolroom         scurity  of  the  classroom,  to  make  fun  of  these  college 

drill  in  oratory. 

conspirators,  and  to  point  out  the  artificial  and  puerile 
character  of  these  impromptu  speeches,  which  required 
fifteen  days  of  preparation,  of  these  orations  which  were 
supposed  to  be  addressed  to  a  nation,  but  which  had  for 
hearers  only  beardless  youths  and  a  poor  stick  of  a 
pedant. 

What  madmen  [said  Petronius]  are  these  declaimers,  who 
cry  out,  "These  wounds  I  received  in  defense  of  the  public 
liberty.  This  eye  was  lost  in  your  service  !  Give  me  some 
helpful  hand  to  lead  me  to  my  children,  for  my  severed  hams 
can  no  longer  support  me."  In  my  opinion,  the  reason  why 
young  people  are  made  such  blockheads  in  the  schools  is  that 
they  neither  hear  nor  see  any  of  those  things  which  belong 
to  the  common  usage  of  life. 

The  criticism  is  keen  and  discriminating.  But  after 
all,  if  these  students  and  their  teachers  were  wrong 
sometimes  in  living  aloof  from  the  spirit  of  their  age, 
they  were  often  right  in  so  doing. 

"In  studying  antiquity,"  said  Livy,  "my  soul  be- 
comes  ancient. ' '  So  with  some  of  these  professors  and 
learners — the  imaginary  resurrection  of  the  past  en- 
riched their  minds.  Pliny  speaks  of  a  certain  Isaeus, 
who  all  his  life  had  been  a  rhetorician,  adding  : 

I  know  no  class  of  men  more  single-hearted,  more  genuine, 
more  excellent  than  this  class. 


Education.  31 

Marcus  Aurelius  wrote  to  Fronto : 

Fronto's  influ- 

I  send  you  my  decree  of  to-day,  and  my  reflection  of  yester-   ence  over  Mar- 
day.     But  [he  said  to  him  also]  you  do  not  cease  to  set  me    cus  Aurellus- 
in  the  way  of  truth,  and  to  open  my  eyes.     You  teach  me  what 
envy,  duplicity,  and  hypocrisy  may  lurk  in  a  tyrant's  heart,  and 
how  many  great  lords  have  never  experienced  sentiments  of 
affection. 

Fronto  all  his  life  corresponded  with  the  emperor, 
who  always  heeded  his  counsels,  and  often  even  asked 
for  them.  It  might  truly  be  said  that  Fronto  exercised 
an  influence  over  the  spirit  and  the  character  of  the  best 
ruler  which  the  empire  had  known.  Was  not  that 
a  beautiful  triumph  for  a  professor  of  rhetoric  ? 

The  study  of  rhetoric  or  oratory,  which  crowned  and   Oratory  an 

outlet  for 

completed  the  education  of  a  young  Roman,   had,  we   sentiments  of 

J  .  independence. 

must  own,  more  than  one  ridiculous  aspect.      But  it  had 

also    its    redeeming   advantages,    since   it  furnished  an 

opportunity    for   expressing   the    claims    of   justice  and 

for  declaring  rights  too  often  scorned.     Unfortunately, 

most  young  men,  after  entering  into  life,  took  at  once 

the  humorous  view   of  their  drill  in  oratory  and    lost 

sight  of  the   considerations    that   made   the   ridiculous 

aspects   of   their  study  excusable,   and  even  touching. 

Some,    Persius    for  instance,    placed  themselves    under 

the  guidance  of  a  philosopher,  who  developed  in  their  gUPdhai|1°cseopher's 

souls  the  first  germs  of  a  high  morality.      In  his  Fifth 

Satire  Persius  tells  us  : 

When  first  I  laid  the  purple  by,  and  free, 

Yet  trembling  at  my  new-felt  liberty,  "0* 

Approached  the  hearth,  and  on  the  Lares  hung 

The  bulla,  from  my  willing  neck  unstrung  ; 

When  gay  associates,  sporting  at  my  side, 

And  the. white  boss,  displayed  with  conscious  pride, 

Gave  me,  unchecked,  the  haunts  of  vice  to  trace, 

And  throw  my  wandering  eyes  on  every  face  ; 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


Cornutus. 


The  low 
morality  of 
Roman  youths. 


The  influence 
of  society. 


When  life's  perplexing  maze  before  me  lay, 
And  error,  heedless  of  the  better  way, 
To  straggling  paths,  far  from  the  route  of  truth, 
Woo'd,  with  blind  confidence,  my  timorous  youth, 
I  fled  to  you,  Cornutus,  pleased  to  rest 
My  hopes  and  fears  on  your  Socratic  breast, 
Nor  did  you,  gentle  sage,  the  charge  decline  ; 
Then,  dextrous  to  beguile,  your  steady  line 
Reclaimed,  I  know  not  by  what  winning  force, 
My  morals,  warped  from  virtue's  straighter  course  ; 
While  reason  pressed  incumbent  on  my  soul, 
That  struggled  to  receive  the  strong  control, 
And  took,  like  wax,  tempered  by  plastic  skill, 
The  form  your  hand  imposed,  and  bears  it  still  ! 

Very  few,  however,  after  escaping  from  rhetoric, 
found  the  refuge  and  the  harbor  of  philosophy.  These 
young  people  of  seventeen  years,  who,  at  the  festival  of 
the  Liberalia,  had  deposited  before  the  Lares  of  their 
homes  the  emblems  of  childhood,  the  toga  prcetexta, 
and  the  bulla  worn  about  the  neck,  who  had  put  on  the 
straight  tunic  and  the  toga  virilis,  who  had  been  con- 
ducted by  parent  or  guardian  to  the  record-office  of  the 
capitol  to  be  enrolled  upon  the  list  of  citizens — these 
youths,  so  suddenly  transformed  into  men,  did  not 
dream  of  being  frightened  at  their  new  liberty  and  of 
committing  it  into  the  hands  of  a  Cornutus.  "  Life's 
perplexing  maze,"  which  lay  before  the  poet  Persius, 
did  not  long  perplex  the  majority  of  the  Roman  youths. 
Is  there  any  need  of  stating  what  course  they  chose  ? 
Their  goal  was  languid  pleasure,  riches  speedily  ac- 
quired, and  power  easily  won.  But  must  we  conclude 
that  this  choice  was  the  fruit  of  the  education  which  they 
had  received  from  their  teachers  ?  Was  it  not  rather  due 
to  the  influence  of  the  society  into  which  the  youths  en- 
tered ?  What  of  the  family  example,  that  powerful  and 
decisive  example,  the  thought  of  which  inspired  Juvenal 


Education.  33 


with   one   of   his   finest  satires — should   this  count   for 
nothing  ? 

After  a  careful   consideration,   we  have   formed  the 
opinion  that  even  in  the  time  of  the  Antonines,  when  Moral  tenden- 

'  cies  under  the 

there  was  an  interruption  in  the  decadence  of  Roman  Antonines. 
society,  the  underlying  tendencies  were  more  powerful 
than  the  outward  attempts  at  morality  ;  that  many  a 
father,  while  his  son  was  a  child,  adopted  measures  to 
make  a  good  man  out  of  him,  but  afterward,  by  his 
conduct  and  his  counsels,  killed  the  germs  which  he 
had  previously  tried  to  nourish.  And,  in  short,  it 
seems  to  us  that  although  suitable  instructors  were 
provided  for  the  child,  for  the  youth  there  were  no 
guides,  because  his  natural  educators  abandoned  their 
•duty. 

We  have  attempted  to  follow  the  Roman  boy  up  to  IT 

*       r  Unsatisfactory 

his  entrance  into  life.     It  is  not  so  easy  to  present  a  information  in 

J  regard  to  a 

picture  of  the  early  years  of  the  girl  who  is  to  become  sirl's  early Hfe- 
one  day  his  companion.     The  information  which  the 
ancient  writers  have  left  us  concerning  women  is  scanty 
and  far  from  satisfactory.     Let  us  try,  however,  to  make 
the  most  of  it. 

A  girl  has  just  been  born.  The  anxiety  of  the  mother  Her  infancy. 
is  expressed  by  a  thousand  precautions,  a  thousand 
superstitious  practices.  Amulets  are  hung  about  the 
neck  of  the  child,  to  preserve  her  from  accidents  and 
from  suffering.  Prayers  are  offered  in  the  temples  to 
the  gods,  that  the  child  may  -be  blessed  with  beauty. 
When  intelligence  begins  to  dawn  in  her  young  mind, 
her  nurse  or  governess  is  at  hand  to  narrate  to  her 
those  marvelous  stories  which,  from  the  earliest  times, 
have  fascinated  and  terrified  children  —  stories  about 
ghosts  and  specters,  about  the  Lamiae,  the  Gorgon, 
hobgoblins,  and  about  Gelo,  the  witch,  the  kidnapper 


34 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Her  manual 
training. 


Her 

intellectual 

education. 


of  children,  known  at  Lesbos  from  the  time  of  Sappho. 
Soon  it  becomes  necessary  to  arrange  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  little  girl.  The  first  thing  is  to  teach  her  to 
perform  the  duties  belonging  to  her  sex — especially  to 
weave  and  to  spin.  These  manual  employments  con- 
stituted an  essen- 
tial part  of  every 
good  education, 
even  in  the  most 
aristocratic  fami- 
lies. We  learn 
from  Suetonius 
that  Augustus 
wore  no  clothes 
except  those 
made  by  the 
women  of  his 
family  —  his 
daughters,  his 
g  r  a  nddaughters, 
his  wife,  or  his- 
sister.  The  in- 
scriptions upon 
the  tombs  of  the 
high-born  ladies 
of  the  empire 
rarely  fail  to 
record  among 
their  merits  that  they  could  spin  wool.  As  for  mental 
culture,  the  young  girls  of  middle  rank  received  it  in 
the  public  schools,  in  company  with  the  boys.  Martial 
tells  us  of  a  teacher  who  is  the  terror  of  his  pupils 
of  both  sexes.  The  French  revolutionists,  who  were 
full  of  the  spirit  of  classic  antiquity,  remembered,  no- 


A  POMPEIIAN  COURT. 
From  a  painting  by  L.  Bazzani. 


Education.  35 

doubt,  this  method  of  coeducation  which  the  Romans 
practiced.  Condorcet,  in  the  proposal  which  he  pre- 
sented to  the  Legislative  Assembly  for  the  organization 
of  a  national  system  of  education,  suggested  that  boys 
.and  girls  should  be  taught  the  same  things  together  in 
the  same  schools. 

At  Rome  the  mental  training  of  the  women  consisted 
especially  in  the  reading  of  the  poets,  in  the  study  of 
music,  and  in  dancing  lessons,  or  training  in  poise  and  Girls  are  pre- 

f  or-  pared  for  social 

carriage,  such  as  is  given  to-day  in  boarding-schools  for  Hfe. 
young  ladies.  The  families  of  rank  were  not  satisfied 
with  this.  From  the  end  of  the  republic,  as  we  shall 
show  later,  women  occupied  an  important  place  in  the 
social  world.  They  had  obtained  for  themselves  an 
influence  which,  under  the  empire,  was  felt  sometimes 
in  politics.  It  was  natural,  then,  that  a  mother  should 
aspire  to  make  her  daughter  one  of  those  persons, 
distinguished  for  their  brilliancy,  who  establish  the  tone 
in  social  circles,  and  who  sometimes  issue  commands  to 
the  world.  So  patrician  girls,  brought  up  at  home, 
often  received  a  very  complete  education.  This  fact 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  letter  of  Pliny  : 

I  write  this  to  you  in  the  deepest  sorrow.  The  youngest  The  daughter 
-daughter  of  my  friend  Fundanus  is  dead  !  I  have  never  seen  ofFundanus. 
a  more  cheerful  and  more  lovable  girl,  or  one  who  better 
•deserved  to  have  enjoyed  a  long,  I  had  almost  said  an  im- 
mortal, life  !  She  was  scarcely  fourteen,  and  yet  there  was  in 
her  a  wisdom  far  beyond  her  years,  a  matronly  gravity  united 
with  girlish  sweetness  and  virgin  bashfulness.  With  what  an 
-endearing  fondness  did  she  hang  on  her  father's  neck  !  How 
affectionately  and  modestly  she  used  to  greet  us,  his  friends  ! 
With  what  a  tender  and  deferential  regard  she  used  to  treat 
her  nurses,  tutors,  teachers,  each  in  their  respective  offices  ! 
What  an  eager,  industrious,  intelligent  reader  she  was  !  She 
took  few  amusements,  and  those  with  caution.  How  self- 
controlled,  how  patient,  how  brave  she  was,  under  her  last 


36  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 

illness  !  She  complied  with  all  the  directions  of  her  physi- 
cians ;  she  spoke  cheerful,  comforting  words  to  her  sister  and 
her  father  ;  and  when  all  her  bodily  strength  was  exhausted, 
the  vigor  of  her  mind  sustained  her.  That  indeed  continued 
even  to  her  last  moments,  unbroken  by  the  pain  of  a  long 
illness  or  the  terrors  of  approaching  death  ;  and  it  is  a  reflec- 
tion which  makes  us  miss  her,  and  grieve  that  she  has  gone 
from  us,  the  more. 

A  fortunate  disposition  could  not  have  availed  to 
give  so  many  good  qualities  to  a  young  girl  who  was 
almost  a  child.  We  must  agree  that  only  an  excellent 
education,  added  to  natural  tendencies,  could  have 
rendered  a  person  so  accomplished.  Moreover,  a 
Roman  youth,  finding  in  the  daughter  of  Fundanus  so 
many  attractions  joined  to  such  intellect  and  virtue,  was 
on  the  point  of  making  her  his  wife.  The  Roman 
girls,  in  fact,  completed  their  education  at  about  the 
age  of  fourteen,  when  they  were  ready  for  marriage. 

We  shall  next  speak  of  their  condition  after  leaving 
the  paternal  home  to  enter  the  home  of  a  husband. 


CHAPTER  II. 

WOMEN    AND    MARRIAGE. 

AMONG  the  Romans  sentiment  had  no  place  in  the  Lack  of 

r  •  TM  •      i         11-  sentiment  in 

arrangement  or  a  marriage,      ihe  excessively  delicate  regard  to 
and   refined   Madelon  would  have   been    ill   contented 
with  the  management  of  love  affairs  in  Rome. 

The  idea  [exclaims  Madelon,  in  Moliere's  play,  "  Les 
Pre'cieuses  Ridicules"]  of  coming  pointblank  to  conjugal 
union,  of  only  making  love  in  making  the  marriage  contract, 
of  jumping  to  the  end  of  the  romance  at  once  !  I  tell  you, 
father,  there  can  be  nothing  more  tradesmanlike  than  such  a 
proceeding.  The  very  thought  of  such  a  thing  makes  me  sick. 

But  the  Roman  maidens  were  not  over-refined,  and 
they  did  not  require,  like  Madelon,  that  their  future 
husbands  should  ' '  know  how  to  utter  sentiments  that 
were  sweet,  tender,  and  passionate. ' ' 

Under  the  republic  people  married  for  the  sake  of 
having  children.  Parents  usually  had  a  good  many, 
and  were  probably  happy.  Under  the  empire  the  object 
of  marriage  was  different.  Then  people  entered  into 
matrimony  because  they  wished  to  establish  a  house,  to 
have  a  recognized  position,  to  settle  down  in  life.  The 
choice  of  a  husband  or  of  a  wife  was  determined  solely 
by  considerations  of  convenience,  of  rank,  and  of  for- 
tune. There  was  in  all  this  nothing  romantic,  and  the 
novelists  and  ballad-makers,  whose  business  it  is  to 
marry  the  lover  and  the  innocent  girl,  in  spite  of  the  op- 
position of  a  savage  father  and  the  plots  of  an  odious 
rival,  would  have  been  reduced  to  silence  at  Rome. 

37 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


The  marriage- 
able age. 


Parents  are 
the  match- 
makers. 


Ulpjan's 
testimony. 


The  early  age  at  which  girls  were  married  did  not 
allow  them  time  to  have  a  preference.  They  were  too 
young  to  choose.  Law  fixed  the  marriageable  age 
at  twelve  years,  and  custom  made  it  fourteen.  When  a 
girl  passed  her  nineteenth  year  she  was  no  longer  con- 
sidered, under  ordinary  circumstances,  eligible  for 
marriage.  Parents,  we  see,  were  the  ones  to  arrange 

for  the  marriage  of  a 
daughter.  It  was  their 
place  to  pick  out  her 
future  husband,  usually 
a  man  of  at  least  thirty 
years.  We  know  of  no 
examples  of  resistance  to 
the  paternal  will.  And 
law  confirmed  the 
proverb  ' '  Silence  gives 
consent. ' ' 

' '  The  daughter, ' '  said 
Ulpian,  a  celebrated 
Roman  jurist,  ' '  who  does 
not  object,  is  regarded 
as  consenting."  And  he 
adds,  "She  has,  more- 
over, no  right  to  resist 
her  father,  unless  he  tries 
to  give  her  a  dishonored 
or  deformed  husband. ' ' 
In  this  delicate  matter,  what  motives  influenced  the 
parents  ?  What  qualities  did  they  seek  in  a  son-in-law? 
Pliny  shall  tell  us.  His  friend,  Junius  Mauricus,  had  re- 
quested him  to  suggest  a  suitable  match  for  the  daughter 
of  a  brother,  Rusticus  Arulenus.  Let  us  see  how  Pliny 
performs  his  commission  : 


FAUSTINA,  WIFE  OF   MARCUS 

AURELIUS. 
Museum  of  Naples. 


Women  and  Marriage.  39 

You  desire  me  to  look  out  a  proper  husband  for  your  niece.  A  desirable 
.  .  .  I  should  be  long  in  determining  a  choice  were  I  not 
acquainted  with  Minucius  Acilianus,  who  seems  formed  for  our 
purpose.  .  .  .  He  is  a  native  of  Brixia,  one  of  those  prov- 
inces in  Italy  which  still  retain  much  of  the  old  modesty,  frugal 
simplicity,  and  even  rusticity  of  manner.  He  is  the  son  of 
Minucius  Macrinus,  whose  humble  desires  were  satisfied  with  Ancestry, 
standing  at  the  head  of  the  equestrian  order ;  for  though  he 
was  nominated  by  Vespasian  in  the  number  of  those  whom 
that  prince  dignified  with  the  praetorian  office,  yet,  with  an  in- 
flexible greatness  of  mind,  he  resolutely  preferred  an  honorable 
repose  to  the  ambitions,  shall  I  call  them,  or  exalted  pursuits 
in  which  we  public  men  are  engaged.  His  grandmother  on  his 
mother's  side  is  Serrana  Procula,  of  Patavium  ;  you  are  no 
stranger  to  the  character  of  its  citizens  ;  yet  Serrana  is  looked 
upon,  even  among  these  correct  people,  as  an  exemplary 
instance  of  strict  virtue.  ...  In  short,  you  will  find  nothing 
throughout  his  family  unworthy  of  yours.  Minucius  himself  Character. 
has  plenty  of  vivacity,  as  well  as  application,  together  with 
a  most  amiable  and  becoming  modesty.  He  has  already,  with 
considerable  credit,  passed  through  the  offices  of  quaestor,  trib- 
une, and  praetor  ;  so  that  you  will  be  spared  the  trouble  of 
soliciting  for  him  those  honorable  employments.  He  has  a  fine,  personai 
well-bred  countenance,  with  a  ruddy,  healthy  complexion,  appearance, 
while  his  whole  person  is  elegant  and  comely,  and  his  mien 
graceful  and  senatorian — advantages,  I  think,  by  no  means  to 
be  slighted,  and  which  I  consider  as  the  proper  tribute  to 
virgin  innocence.  I  think  I  may  add  that  his  father  is  very  rich. 
When  I  contemplate  the  character  of  those  who  require 
a  husband  of  my  choosing,  I  know  it  is  unnecessary  to 
mention  wealth ;  but  when  I  reflect  upon  the  prevailing  Wealth- 
manners  of  the  age,  and  even  the  laws  of  Rome,  which  rank 
a  man  according  to  his  possessions,  it  certainly  claims  some 
regard  ;  and,  indeed,  in  establishments  of  this  nature,  where 
children  and  many  other  circumstances  are  to  be  duly 
weighed,  it  is  an  article  that  well  deserves  to  be  taken  into 
the  account. 

Good  moral  character,  noble  family,  a  career  bril- 
liantly commenced,  attractive  personality,  large  fortune 
— all  these  qualifications,  according  to  Pliny,  were 


40  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

united  in  Minucius  Acilianus.  He  was  a  suitor  that 
could  be  recommended  without  hesitation,  and  the 
daughter  of  Rusticus  Arulenus  would  have  been  hard 
to  please  if  she  had  not  liked  him.  Doubtless  many 
young  girls  had  to  put  up  with  less  ;  doubtless  many 
families  did  not  find,  nor  perhaps  even  seek,  sons-in-law 
as  accomplished  as  Minucius  Acilianus.  But  we  have 
attempted  to  speak  only  of  the  aristocracy.  For  we 
have  scarcely  any  information  in  regard  to  the  domestic 
life  of  the  lower  classes. 

What  we  know  of  the  education  of  girls  indicates  the 
Advantage  of      intellectual  and  moral  qualities  desired  in  them  by  those 

beauty  to  a  .  .  .  .  » 

girl.  who  sought  them  in  marriage.     It  is  evident  that  beauty 

was  one  of  the  chief  attractions  to  a  suitor,  since,  ac- 
cording to  Juvenal,  it  was  the  first  thing  a  mother 
desired  for  her  child. 

When'er  the  fane  of  Venus  meets  her  eye, 

The  anxious  mother  breathes  a  secret  sigh 

For  handsome  boys  ;  but  asks,  with  bolder  prayer, 

That  all  her  girls  be  exquisitely  fair. 

Nor   did  a  mother  neglect  to  set  off   a   daughter's 

Health  sacri- 
ficed to  beauty,   beauty  by  every  art  in  her  power.       If  a  daughter  was  a 

coquette  the  mother  would  help  her  to  make  her  form 
more  slender  and  to  dress  as  becoming  as  possible. 
From  the  time  of  Terence  great  value  was  set  upon 
beauty,  and  even  the  health  of  a  girl  was  exposed  for  its 
sake. 

The  girl  isn't  like  our  girls  [says  a  character  in  Terence's 
"  Eunuch"],  whom  their  mothers  are  anxious  to  have  with 
shoulders  kept  down  and  chests  well  girthed,  that  they  may 
be  slender.  If  one  is  a  little  inclined  to  plumpness,  they 
declare  that  she's  training  for  a  boxer,  and  stint  her  food  ; 
although  their  constitutions  are  good,  by  their  treatment  they 
make  them  as  slight  as  bulrushes. 


Women  and  Marriage.  41 

But  the  most  important  equipment  for  a  girl  was  her 
dowry.  The  Romans  were  a  people  above  everything  importanceof  a 
else  practical,  and  they  had  very  little  disinterestedness.  dowfy- 
When  Lucretius,  that  admirable  poet  whose  thought  is 
so  high  and  noble,  counsels  young  men  to  avoid  illicit 
love,  to  what  motive  does  he  appeal  ?  He  touches 
lightly  upon  the  dangers  of  those  sad  passions,  suggest- 
ing that  they  ruin  the  health,  degrade  the  mind,  and 
destroy  self-respect,  but  he  dwells  with  special  emphasis 
upon  the  fact  that  young  men  waste  their  fortunes 
by  self-indulgence. 

And  all  the  wealth  their  good  sires  toiled  to  gain 

Changes  to  head-gear,  and  rich  anadem, 
And  Cean  robes  with  trailing  sweep  of  train, 

And  feasts,  and  goblets  thick  with  many  a  gem. 

A  young  man  of  serious  mind  avoided  expensive 
women  ;  but  that  was  not  all — he  sought  women  who 
might  bring  him  wealth.  In  the  time  of  the  ancient 
virtues,  there  was  a  tendency  in  this  direction.  Even 
then,  the  dowry  took  the  place  of  beauty,  of  youth,  of 
birth,  or  of  honor  itself.  "If  only  she  has  a  dowry," 
says  one  of  Plautus's  characters,  "  she  has  no  vice." 

In  the  refined  and  corrupt  civilization  of  the  first  two 
centuries  of  the  empire,  considerations  of  self-interest,  it 
is  easy  to  believe,  were  no  less  powerful.      Girls  without 
dowry   frightened    away    eligible    young    men.      Pliny 
was  not  ignorant  of   this  when    he  generously  made  a 
present  of  fifty  thousand  sesterces   (about  $2,125)   to   Pliny's  gift  to 
his  friend  Quintilian's  daughter.     The  following  is  the  daughter, 
letter  which  accompanied  the  gift  : 

Though  your  desires,  I  know,  are  extremely  moderate,  and 
though  you  have  brought  up  your  daughter  as  became  a 
daughter  of  yours  and  the  granddaughter  of  Tutilius,  yet  as 
she  is  going  to  be  married  to  a  person  of  such  distinction  as 


42 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' 's   Time. 


Letter  from 
Pliny  to 
Quintilian. 


The  betrothal. 


Nonius  Celer,  whose  civil  employment  necessarily  imposes 
upon  him  a  certain  style  of  living,  her  wardrobe  and  estab- 
lishment should  be  enlarged  according  to  the  rank  of  her 
husband  ;  circumstances  which,  though  they  do  not  augment 
our  real  dignity,  yet  certainly  adorn  and  grace  it.  But  as  I  am 
sensible  the  wealth  of  your  revenue  is  not  equal  to  the  wealth 
of  your  mind,  I  claim  to  myself  a  part  of  your  expense,  and, 


RELIEF*  REPRESENTING  A  SACRIFICE. 

like  another  father,  present  our  young  lady  with  fifty  thousand 
sesterces.  The  sum  should  be  larger  but  that  I  am  well  per- 
suaded the  smallness  of  the  present  is  the  only  consideration 
that  can  prevail  with  your  modesty  not  to  refuse  it. 

Fortunate  daughter  of  Quintilian !  Many  girls  had 
no  such  windfalls,  and  not  being  marketable,  as  Plau- 
tus's  miser  would  say,  were  doomed  to  maidenhood. 

When  the  two  families  agreed,  the  young  people 
were  betrothed.  The  occasion  of  a  betrothal  was 
celebrated  with  much  pomp.  All  the  friends  received 
invitations,  which  etiquette  required  them  to  accept. 
The  young  man  made  several  presents  to  his  fiancee, 


Women  and  Marriage,  43 

and  among  other  things  he  gave  her  an  iron  ring  as  a 
pledge  of  his  fidelity.  But  this  ceremony  led  to  no 
change  in  the  relation  between  the  two  young  people. 
Their  engagement  gave  them  no  right  to  seek  to  be- 
come better  acquainted  with  each  other.  For  what  we 
call  "  courting  "  was  an  unknown  thing  among  the  Ro-  "Courting" 

unknown. 

mans.  It  was  a  long  time  before  any  one  was  surprised 
that  two  beings,  who  were  to  bind  themselves  to  live 
a  common  life  together,  should  do  so  when  they  were 
strangers  to  each  other.  It  was  only  under  the  influence 
of  Christianity  that  this  thing  was  considered  strange. 

Before  a  man  buys  an  ox,  a  horse,  a  slave  [said  Saint  Je- 
rome], he  tests  them;  but  his  future  wife  he  is  not  even  allowed 
to  see,  for  fear  that  she  may  displease  him  before  the  marriage. 

The  spiritual  director  of  the  Roman  ladies  of  the 
fourth  century,  when  he  said  that,  failed  in  courtesy 
toward  the  fair  sex. 

The  ceremony  of  betrothal  over,  it  was  time  to  think   Preparations 

r      i  11-  r-          ^  1       •        i        r     1       i       for  marriage. 

of  the  wedding  outfit.  Custom  made  it  the  father  s 
place  to  purchase  jewels  and  provide  the  trousseau  for 
his  daughter.  He  also  selected  the  servants  who 
should  follow  the  young  wife  into  her  new  dwelling. 
When  all  these  preparations  were  over,  he  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  his  daughter  dedicate  her  doll  and 
her  other  toys  to  the  divinities  which  had  protected  her 
childhood.  Then  came  the  wedding  day. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  houses  of  the  betrothed  were  The  wedding, 
decorated.  The  throng  of  friends  and  relations  filled 
the  atrium  of  the  bride's  house.  This  room  was 
brilliantly  lighted  and  trimmed  with  green  branches. 
The  recesses  in  the  wall  were  thrown  open  to  display 
the  images  of  the  family  ancestors.  Soon  the  bride  ap- 
peared. On  her  head  she  wore  a  flame-colored  veil, 
flowing  at  the  back  and  at  the  sides,  so  that  only  her 


44  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

face  showed.  A  girdle  with  a  jasper  buckle  encircled 
!ttireride's  her  waist-  Precious  stones  sparkled  in  her  hair,  and 
she  wore  about  her  throat  a  necklace  of  gold,  and  pearls 
in  her  ears.  When  the  ten  required  witnesses  had 
placed  their  signatures  below  the  contract,  a  matron 
chosen  for  the  purpose  led  the  bride  up  to  the  bride- 
groom and  joined  their  right  hands.  The  couple  then 
offered  a  sacrifice  upon  the  family  altar,  after  which, 
conducted  in  festal  procession,  they  set  out  for  their 
new  home.  They  had  to  pass  through  a  crowd  who 
were  mingling  cheers  with  the  music  of  flutes  and  with 
gay  songs,  and  who  did  not  disperse  until  they  had 
seen  the  bridegroom  lift  the  bride  over  the  threshold  of 
her  new  dwelling.  It  was  thus  that  the  husband  sym- 
bolized his  right  of  possession.  Finally,  the  festivities 
were  ended  by  a  feast  given  in  the  husband's  house, 
when  husband  and  wife  sat  side  by  side.  We  have 
reason  to  believe  that  much  money  was  lavished  upon 
this  repast,  for  Augustus  sought  to  limit  by  law  the  ex- 
penditures upon  such  occasions.  Moreover,  when  a 
Origin  of  the  couple  wished  to  avoid  this  showy  entertainment,  they 

wedding  tour.  ,    .  .  „,.  . 

went  to  get  married  in  some  country  house.  Ims  was 
the  course  that  Apuleius  adopted  when  he  married 
Pudentilla. 

We  wished  [said  he]  to  escape  from  the  eager  crowd,  who 
would  have  claimed  our  hospitality,  .  .  .  and  to  avoid  also 
those  numerous  and  wearisome  feasts  which  custom  imposes 
almost  always  upon  a  newly  married  couple. 

Here  we  find  the  origin  of  the  wedding  tour,  and 
although  this  beginning  of  married  life  is  sometimes 
condemned  on  grounds  of  health,  it  will  never  lose 
its  charm  until  young  married  people  shall  cease  to  wish 
for  solitude — so  favorable  to  intimacy  and  love. 

Roman  law  at  first  was  very  severe  for  the  wife. 


Women  and  Marriage. 


45 


Our   ancestors   [said  Livy]   required  that  women,  even  in    Thecondition 
their  private  affairs,  should  always  be  under  the  guardianship 
of  some  man — father,  brother,  or  husband. 

But  custom  was  less  rigorous  than  law.  From  the 
earliest  period  in  Roman  history  the  wife,  enthroned 
near  the  family  hearth,  was  queen  in  the  atrium.  Gide, 
in  his  study  upon  the  condition  of  the  wife,  says  : 

The  atrium  was  not,  like  the  gynseceum  in  a  Greek  house,  a 
secluded  apartment,  an  upper  floor,  a  hidden  and  inaccessible 
retreat.  It  was  the  very  center  of  the  Roman  house,  the  com- 
mon hall  where  the  whole  family  assembled,  where  friends  and 


LUCRETIA  AND  HER  MAIDS.    From  a  painting  by  J.  Coomans. 

strangers  were  received.  There  near  the  hearth  was  the  altar 
of  the  Lares,  and  around  this  sanctuary  were  gathered  all  the 
most  precious  and  sacred  possessions  of  the  family,  the  nuptial 
bed,  the  images  of  the  ancestors,  the  web  and  spindle  of  the 
mother,  the  chest  containing  the  family  records  and  the  money. 
All  these  treasures  were  placed  under  the  guard  of  the  wife. 
She,  as  head  of  the  family,  offered  herself  the  sacrifices  to  the 
Lares.  She  presided  over  the  domestic  labors  of  the  slaves. 
She  directed  the  education  of  the  children,  who  even  after  they 


The  family 
hearth. 


46  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

passed  out  of  childhood  continued  to  submit  to  her  authority. 
In  short,  she  shared  with  her  husband  the  administration  of 
the  property  and  the  rule  of  the  house. 

We  see  that  from  very  early  times  the  wife,  who 
The  freedom  legally  was  in  wardship,  was  in  fact  emancipated.  She 
obtained  still  greater  independence  under  the  empire, 
through  important  modifications  in  the  laws,  which  no 
longer  secured  to  the  husband  his  former  power  over  his 
wife.  It  ceased  to  be  true  that  ' '  the  personality  of  the 
wife  was  absorbed  by  the  husband,  and  that  all  her 
property  inevitably  belonged  to  him,  as  if  she  had  be- 
come his  daughter." 

The  ancient  religious  form  of  marriage,  by  which  the 
wife  with  her  property  came  under  the  absolute  do- 
minion of  her  husband,  having  fallen  into  disuse,  a  form 
called  free  marriage  prevailed,  by  which  the  dowry 
brought  by  the  wife  for  her  support  after  marriage  was 
reserved  and  secured  for  this  use.  She  retained  the 
wivCesf ranny  °  independent  ownership  of  all  her  other  property,  per- 
sonal as  well  as  real,  and  the  husband  had  not  legally 
the  right  even  to  use  the  interest  coming  from  it. 
Under  such  provisions  the  women  were  not  satisfied 
with  being  no  longer  slaves — they  wished  to  be  mis- 
tresses. And  ordinarily  they  exercised  their  power  with 
tyranny.  The  tables  were  turned,  and,  if  we  may  trust 
Juvenal,  it  is  the  husband  now  whom  we  should  pity : 

Naught  must  be  given,  if  she  opposes  ;  naught, 
If  she  opposes,  must  be  sold  or  bought ; 
She  tells  him  where  to  love,  and  where  to  hate, 
Shuts  out  the  ancient  friend,  whose  beard  his  gate 
Knew,  from  its  downy  to  its  hoary  state  ; 
"*  And  when  pimps,  parasites,  of  all  degrees 
Have  power  to  will  their  fortunes  as  they  please, 
She  dictates  his,  and  impudently  dares 
To  name  his  very  rivals  for  his  heirs  ! 


Women  and  Marriage.  47 

To  maintain  the  rights  of  women  married  under  the  stewards. 
later  law  of  freedom,  and  even  to  suggest  to  them 
exorbitant  demands,  a  curious  class  of  men  arose — 
business  managers  for  ladies,  stewards,  as  they  were 
called.  When  these  stewards  were  young  and  hand- 
some bachelors,  they  easily  left  their  role  of  business 
counselor  and  became  the  professed  admirers  of  their 
clients.  Seneca  speaks  somewhere  of  the  gallant  stew- 
ard, the  steward  with  curled  hair.  Husbands,  to  take 
revenge,  declared  such  men  ' '  absurd  and  insipid  in  the 
society  of  men,"  as  Cicero  described  for  us  Ebutius, 
business  manager  of  the  widow  Cesennia.  But  never- 
theless, husbands,  in  more  than  one  way,  were  the 
dupes  and  the  victims  of  these  schemers  and  unscrupu- 
lous experts  in  handling  the  law. 

However  cautious  we  may  be  in  drawing  conclusions  The  institution 
from  the  exaggerations  of  the  pessimistic  moralists  and  undermintd. 
the  thrusts  of  the  satirists,  we  are  forced  to  recognize 
that   the   institution   of   marriage   was,    in   the   second 
century  after  Christ,  singularly  undermined.     Augustus, 
alarmed  at  the  disturbance  which  the  civil  wars  had 
produced  in  the  morals  of  society,   frightened  at  the 
increase  of  celibacy  and  at  so  many  illegitimate  births, 
had  caused  two  laws  to  be  passed — the  Julian  Law  and  The  Julian  and 
the  Papia  Poppaean  Law — designed  to  check  the  evil.    Powx&n  Laws- 
According  to  these  laws  society  was  divided  into  two 
distinct  classes.     By  the  Julian   Law  these  two  classes 
were  celibates   and  those  who  were   married  ;  by  the 
Poppaean  Law,  childless  persons  and  parents.     Against 
celibates  and  those  without  children  severe  regulations 
were   enacted,    while   privileges   and    immunities   were 
granted  to  married  persons  and  parents.     Let  us  add 
that  the  name  of  celibate  applied  to  any  one  who  was 
not  married,   whether  a  widower  or  a  man  who  had 


48  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

been  divorced.  Hence,  in  order  to  avoid  the  penalties 
of  the  Julian  Law,  it  was  necessary,  upon  the  dissolution 
of  one's  marriage  by  death  or  by  law,  to  remarry  at 
once.  Women  alone  were  allowed  a  certain  interval 
between  two  marriages — one  year  after  the  death  of  a 
husband  and  six  months  after  a  divorce.  These  inter- 
vals the  Poppaean  Law  increased  respectively  to  two 
years  and  to  eighteen  months. 

But,  after  all,  few  laws  can  effect  a  change  in  moral 
Divorces.  tendencies.     At  any  rate,  the  laws  of  Augustus  did  not 

succeed  in  this.  We  may  even  say  that  they  produced 
a  new  difficulty.  Divorce  was  granted  very  easily,  and 
the  necessity  resting  upon  divorced  parties  of  entering 
into  new  unions  resulted  in  legalizing  a  certain  loose- 
ness of  life.  Seneca  claims  that  there  were  women  who 
reckoned  years  not  by  consulships,  but  by  their  hus- 
bands. Juvenal,  in  one  of  his  satires,  goes  still  further  : 

Thus  the  virago  triumphs,  thus  she  reigns. 

Anon  she  sickens  of  her  first  domains, 

And  seeks  for  new  ;  husband  on  husband  takes, 

Till  of  her  bridal  veil  one  rent  she  makes. 

Again  she  tires,  again  for  change  she  burns, 

And  to  the  bed  she  lately  left  returns, 

While  the  fresh  garlands,  and  unfaded  boughs, 

Yet  deck  the  portals  of  her  wondering  spouse. 

Thus  swells  the  list ;  eight  husbands  in  five  years — 

A  rare  inscription  for  their  sepulchers  ! 

How  far  removed  from  the  time  when  the  Romans  con- 
sidered marriage  as  the  union  of  two  lives  ! 

In  spite  of   the   opportunities   which   the  facility  of 

the^lmage       obtaining  divorce  gave  to  those  who   had  a  taste  for 

vows-  variety,    open    immorality    was    very    common.     The 

writers  of  the  time  blamed  the  wives  for  this  state  of 

things.     The  husbands,  however,  must  bear  their  share 

of    the   responsibility.     Under   the   ancient   system   of 


Women  and  Marriage. 


49 


slavery  they  always  had  the  leisure  to  form  seraglios, 

and  they  doubtless   often  formed   them.     There  were 

also  the  pretty  freed-girls  and  the  elegant  courtesans  of 

the  voluptuous  Subura.      Infidelity  in  the  husband  was 

made  more  frequent  by  the  fact  that  the  enjoyments  of 

domestic  life  for  men 

were  few,  and  that  the 

irregularities  of   men 

entailed  no  responsi- 

bilities.    So  that 

probably  it  was    not 

uncommon  for  hus- 

bands to  break  their 

marriage    vows,    and 

at  the  epoch  of  which 

we    are    writing    in- 

stances of  such  mis- 

demeanors must  have 

been  very  numerous. 

Formerly,     infidelity 

in  the  wife  alone  was 

punished,   but  the 

emperor    Antoninus, 

thinking   that   this 

gave  encouragement  to  fickle  husbands,  abolished  this 

difference,  and  immorality  was  punished  in  husbands  as 

well  as  in  wives. 

From  the  close  of  the  republic,  the  type  of  the 
matron  of  old  times,  '  '  who  remained  at  home  and  spun 
wool,"  had  ceased  to  be  the  ideal  toward  which  the 
women  of  Rome  aspired.  A  taste  for  elegant  corrup- 
tion had  been  introduced  from  Greece.  Lawful  wives 
felt  that  they  would  lose  their  influence  over  their 
husbands  if  they  clung  to  the  austere  and  cold  virtue  of 


Immorality 
of  husbands. 


WOMAN'S  HEAD. 
Farnesian  Palace,  Rome. 


How  women 


50  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

the  matron,  and  did  not  endeavor  to  acquire  more 
fascinating  attractions.  Many  criticisms  were  passed 
upon  the  first  women  who  departed  from  the  old  tra- 

£i're1<ardS          ditions  and  tried  to  excel  in  dancing  or  music.     Sallust, 

to  women.  stricter  in  his  writings  than  in  his  conduct,  thought  that 
Sempronia  ' '  danced  better  than  became  a  virtuous 
woman."  But  soon  such  prejudices  disappeared.  The 
stanch  defenders  of  old-fashioned  education  were  re- 
duced to  silence.  And  at  the  time  of  Trajan  the  poet 
Statius,  too  poor  to  give  his  daughter  a  dowry,  de- 
pended upon  her  charms  and  accomplishments  to  win 

Social  activity  ner  a  husband.  At  this  time  women  began  to  appear 
in  society,  and  to  play  a  part  there.  When  husbands 
were  invited  out  to  dinner  their  wives  accompanied 
them.  On  such  occasions  the  etiquette  was  the  same 
for  both  sexes,  except  that  the  ladies  sat  in  chairs, 
according  to  the  ancient  style,  while  the  men  adopted 
the  Greek  custom  of  reclining  at  table.  There  was  no 
more  seclusion  for  women.  They  became  acquainted 
with  life,  tasted  its  charms,  but,  unfortunately,  found 
pleasure  in  its  intrigues.  And,  happy  in  the  liberty 
that  they  had  acquired,  in  the  homage  which  they  had 
compelled  men  to  render  them,  they  often  abused  their 
privileges. 

From  the  time  of  Augustus  women  indulged  much  in 

Coquetry  in        coquetry.     This  excited  the  indignation  of  the  rheto- 

women.  ...  .  . 

ncian  Porcius  Latro,  who,  not  confining  himself  to  his 
rhetoric,  traced  for  us  the  following  true  picture  of 
Roman  manners  : 

When  a  matron  wishes  to  be  secure  against  the  advances  of 
the  bold,  she  ought  to  dress  just  well  enough  not  to  appear 
slovenly.  She  ought  to  surround  herself  with  servants  of  a  re- 
spectable age,  whose  aspect  alone  will  repel  undesirable  ap- 
proaches of  gallantry.  She  should  walk  always  with  lowered 


Women  and  Marriage. 


eyes.  When  she  encounters  one  of  those  eagerly  attentive  men 
who  bow  to  all  the  women  that  they  meet,  she  had  better  p0rcius  Latro's 
appear  impolite  than  pleasantly  responsive.  If  she  cannot  womennt°f 
avoid  returning  his  greeting,  let  her  return  it  with  confusion 
and  a  blush.  Let  her  attitude  be  such  that  if  one  is  tempted  to 
make  her  improper  proposals,  her  face  will  say  no  before  her 
voice.  These  are  the  measures  by  which  women  should  pro- 
tect themselves.  But,  on  the  contrary,  see  them  seeking  by 
their  expressions  of  countenance  to  draw  attention  to  them- 
selves, only  half  dressed,  with  language  so  playful,  such  a 
caressing  manner,  that  any  ><T~ --^ 

one    and    every    one    feels  .-.  *£<.  ^4 

free  to  approach  them.  And 
then  when  they  reveal  their 
shameful  desires  by  their 
dress,  their  walk,  their 
words,  their  faces,  are  you 
surprised  that  there  are 
people  who  cannot  escape 
from  these  shameless 
creatures  who  fall  upon 
them? 


With  the  conquest   of 
the   world    Roman  com- 
merce had  become  more 
•extended.     From  distant 
countries   merchants  im- 
ported   rich    and    beau- 
tiful   stuffs,    precious 
stones,   rare  and  curious 
jewels.     Women    then 
began  to  spend  a  great 
•deal   of    time    upon    their    dress.     Though   they  were  Luxuryin 
unacquainted  with  our  extravagances  in  gloves,    hats,    dress- 
and  coiffures,   they  delighted  in  the  delicate  textures 
from  the  East  Indies  or  from  China  ;  though  fur  was 
used   by   them   only    in   moderation,    they   indulged  a 


WOMAN'S    HEAD— SAID    TO   BE  JULIA, 

WIFE  OF  TITUS. 
Museum  of  Naples. 


52  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time, 

fancy  for  garments  of  brilliant  color  —  a  rather  ex- 
pensive fancy,  when  you  consider  that  the  double-dyed 
purple  wool  which  came  from  Tyre  cost  more  than  one 
thousand  deniers,  or  about  $167,  a  pound.  Pompey's 
triumph  over  Mithridates  had  introduced  into  Rome  the 

ofjewds""8  oriental  luxury  of  precious  stones.  People  went  wild 
over  them.  The  diamond  seems  to  have  been  little  em- 
ployed for  ornament,  except  to  be  set  in  rings.  But 
people  were  passionately  fond  of  the  emerald,  the  aqua- 
marine, the  opal,  the  sardonyx,  and  especially  of  pearls. 
They  trimmed  the  lacings  and  buckles  of  their  shoes 
with  pearls.  They  even  covered  their  slippers  with 
them.  Luxury  had  become  for  women  an  absolute 
necessity. 

Extravagance          Juvenal,    in   his    Sixth    Satire,    speaking  of  a  typical 

of  women.  .  ,      ,  . 

society  lady,  Bibula,  says  : 

Briefly,  for  all  her  neighbor  has  she  sighs, 
And  plagues  her  doting  husband  till  he  buys. 
In  winter,  when  the  merchant  fears  to  roam, 
And  snow  confines  the  shivering  crew  at  home, 
She  ransacks  every  shop  for  precious  ware, 
Here  cheapens  myrrh  and  crystal  vases,  there 
That  far-famed  gem  which  Berenice  wore. 

And  the  day  when  the  husband's  purse  was  closed  or 
exhausted,  his  honor  was  imperiled.  There  were  so 
many  women  ready  to  tempt  him,  and  Rome  offered  so 
many  opportunities  to  one  who  wished  to  betray  him. 

Ovid  laid  out,  for  the  use  of  the  man  in  quest  of  good 
Flirtations.         fortune,  a  sort  of  itinerary  through  those  parts  of  the 
capital  where  flirtations  prospered.      Ovid  knew  his  sub- 
ject.     Let  us  follow  him  ;  he  is  a  good  guide  : 

The  fowler  and  the  huntsman  know  by  name 
The  certain  haunts  and  harbor  of  their  game. 
So  must  the  lover  beat  the  likeliest  grounds  ; 
The  assembly  where  his  quarry  most  abounds. 


Women  and  Marriage.  53 

It  is  first  Pompey's  portico.  Also  Livia's  picture 
gallery;  the  painter's  art,  which  freely  represented  the 
love-making  of  mythological  characters,  served  often  to  resorts. 
awaken  the  first  desires  and  to  encourage  the  passions 
just  developing.  Other  places  are  the  public  prome- 
nades, beautifully  laid  out  in  gardens  and  parks,  where 
an  admirer  has  leisure  to  be  gallant,  to  render  a  thou- 
sand little  services,  among  others,  to  hold  his  lady's 
parasol.  The  solemn  forum  itself  is  sometimes  the 
scene  of  a  flirtation. 

The  crafty  counselors,  in  formal  gown, 
There  gain  another's  cause,  but  lose  their  own. 
There  eloquence  is  nonplused  in  the  suit, 
And  lawyers,  who  had  words  at  will,  are  mute. 

But  the  theater  and  the  circus  are  the  chosen  resorts 
of  men  inclined  to  gallantry.  The  women  attend  the 
theater  in  their  finest  attire,  to  see,  but,  above  all,  to  be 
seen.  At  the  circus  they  sit  among  the  men.  It  is 
then  at  the  circus  that  flirtations  are  most  conveniently 
carried  on.  The  young  woman  has  taken  her  place 
next  her  admirer.  A  grain  of  sand  has  fallen  upon 
her  dress  ;  he  delicately  snaps  it  off  with  his  finger. 
Her  pallium  (cloak)  falls  to  the  ground  ;  he  hastens 
to  pick  it  up  and  brush  it.  He  arranges  the  cushion 
where  she  sits,  he  fans  her,  he  does  not  forget  to  place 
the  stool  for  her  feet,  he  hands  her  a  program,  and 
applauds  at  the  right  places,  that  is,  when  she  applauds 
herself.  If  she  asks  for  some  information,  he  must 
never  fail  to  supply  it — he  must,  if  necessary,  even  tell 
what  he  does  not  know.  Thus  it  is  that  a  gallant  man 
conducts  his  business.  After  paying  so  many  attentions, 
he  will  not  fail  to  be  invited  to  some  feast  where  the 
one  whom  he  loves  will  be.  The  husband  is  a  great 
drinker.  The  lover  takes  advantage  of  this.  The  hus- 


54  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

band  goes  to  sleep  in  the  midst  of  the  wine,  and  then, 
on  the  table,  without  fear  of  being  seen,  the  lover  can 
write  with  his  finger,  dipping  it  in  the  spilled  wine,  the 
confession  thus  far  withheld. 

If  we  consider  the  legislation  alone,  we  are  astonished 
Punishment  of     to   see   such    eagerness    in  seeking   immoral   alliances. 

unchastity. 

The  Julian  Law,  passed  under  Augustus,  punished  the 
crime  of  unfaithfulness  to  the  marriage  vow  by  exile 
only.  But  under  the  same  ruler  and  his  successors  the 
punishment  was  often  made  death,  by  several  special 
provisions  ;  and  finally,  by  the  general  constitution  of 
the  emperor  Theodosius,  and  afterward  of  Justinian, 
unchastity  was  made  a  capital  offense  in  all  cases.  No 
humiliation  was  spared  to  women  recognized  as  guilty 
of  infidelity  to  their  husbands.  They  were  no  longer 
allowed  to  wear  the  stola,  but  were  obliged  to  appear 
in  public  dressed  in  the  toga,  a  garment  of  men. 
Death,  when  pronounced  against  them,  was  accom- 
panied with  refinements  of  cruelty.  The  victim  was 
placed  in  the  arena  before  a  bull  trained  to  pick  up 
with  his  horns,  and  toss  into  the  air,  large  pieces  of 
wood.  Such  severity,  however,  was  exercised  but 
rarely.  The  husbands  themselves  were  unwilling  to 
demand  it.  Many  of  them,  after  a  wife  had  committed 
a  fault,  preferred  to  keep  silent. 

We  are  compelled  to  admit  that  the  writers  of  the 

Mistakes  in        second  century  after  Christ  did  not  always  draw  upon 

"women5  their  imagination  for  their  facts,  and  that  chastity  no 

longer   prevailed  at  Rome,   as  in  the  age  of   Saturn. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  deny  that  they  often 

greatly  exaggerated  the  evil.     It  appears  certain  that, 

influenced  in  their  moral  judgments  by  the  traditions  of 

literature,    they    often    condemned    too    severely    the 

women  of  their  time,    on  account  of   having  as  their 


Women  and  Marriage. 


55 


ideal  the  type  of  the  ancient  matron.  Public  opinion, 
in  fact,  clung  to  the  ancient  maxims  after  they  were  no 
longer  practiced.  At  the  same  time  that  women  were 
allowed  by  public  opinion  to  lead  a  freer  life,  the  epoch 
when  they  lived  in  closer  retirement  was  universally 
praised.  The  manners  of  the  current  age  were  judged 
by  the  ideas  of  former  times  ;  the  new  principles  were 
accepted,  but  their  consequences  condemned. 

And  yet  social  opportunities,  enjoyment  of  the  arts, 
and  intellectual  interests, 
had  not  made  all  women 
either  frivolous  or  guilty. 
Some  women,  in  trying 
to  be  beautiful,  witty,  or 
cultured,  had  no  other 
object  than  to  make  the 
family  life  more  charm- 
ing, or  to  please  their 
husbands  more.  Such, 
for  example,  was  the  wife 
of  Saturninus. 

He  read  to  me,  the  other  WOMAN'S  HEAD. 

day    [said    Pliny],    some 

letters,  which  he  assured  me  were  written  by  his  wife  ;  I 
fancied  I  was  hearing  Plautus  or  Terence  in  prose.  Whether 
they  are  that  lady's,  as  he  positively  affirms,  or  his  own, 
which  he  absolutely  denies,  he  deserves  equal  praise  ;  either 
for  writing  such  pieces  himself,  or  for  having  so  highly  im- 
proved and  refined  the  genius  of  his  wife,  whom  he  married 
young  and  uninstructed. 

Such  also  was  the  wife  of  Pliny  himself. 

She  possesses  an  excellent  understanding  [he  wrote],  to- 
gether with  a  consummate  prudence,  and  gives  the  strongest 
evidence  of  the  purity  of  her  heart  by  her  fondness  for  her 
husband.  Her  affection  for  me,  moreover,  has  given  her  a 


Frivolity  in 
women  not 
universal. 


The  wife  of 
Saturninus. 


Pliny's  wife. 


56  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

taste  for  books,  and  my  productions,  which  she  takes  pleasure 
Her  affection  in  reading,  and  even  in  getting  by  heart,  are  continually  in  her 
hands.  How  full  of  tender  anxiety  is  she  when  I  am  going  to 
speak  in  any  case'/  how  rejoiced  she  feels  when  it  is  got 
through  !  .  .  .  When  I  recite  my  works  at  any  time,  she 
conceals  herself  behind  some  curtain,  and  drinks  in  my 
praises  with  greedy  ears.  She  sings  my  verses,  too,  adapting 
them  to  her  lyre,  with  no  other  master  but  love,  that  best  of 
instructors,  for  her  guide.  From  these  happy  circumstances  I 
derive  my  surest  hopes  that  the  harmony  between  us  will 
increase  with  our  days,  and  be  as  lasting  as  our  lives. 

Such  women  came  very  near  realizing  the  dream  of 
all  sensible  and  refined  men,  who  take  no  pleasure  in  a 
learned  wife,  but  who  desire  a  wife  cultured,  sweetly 
serious,  capable  of  taking  an  interest  in  the  pursuits 
and  studies  of  their  husbands,  and  who  now  and  then 
can  give  them  a  bit  of  sincere  and  natural  advice. 

Women  of  this  time  had  then  gained  lovable  quali- 

heroism6  ^es>  anc^  we  must  not  suppose  that  all  had  lost  the 

sturdy  virtues  of  the  past.  Upon  a  close  examination 
of  the  matter,  we  may  even  say  that  there  are  few 
epochs  in  which  more  examples  of  feminine  heroism 
may  be  found.  It  is  sufficient  to  recall  the  two 
Arrias,  and  Fannia,  the  daughter  of  Thrasea,  who 
followed  their  husbands  to  exile  or  to  death — "valiant 
women,  whose  strength  was  not  always  without  grace, 
who  wished  in  dying  to  be  associated  with  the  glory  of 
their  husbands,  whose  fidelity  and  constancy  were  after- 
ward held  up  as  examples,  and  whom  universal  admira- 
tion, by  a  sort  of  profane  canonization,  placed  among 
the  women  Stoics."  We  must  also  mention,  if  only  for 
the  fact  that  the  heroine  has  remained  anonymous,  an 
admirable  example  of  conjugal  devotion  reported  by 
Pliny  : 

I  was  sailing  lately  upon  our  lake,  with  an  old  man  of  my  ac- 


Women  and  Marriage.  57 

quaintance,  who  desired  me  to  observe  a  villa  situated  upon  A  wife's 
its  banks,  which  had  a  chamber  overhanging  the  water. 
"  From  that  room,"  said  he,  "  a  woman  of  our  city  threw  her- 
self and  her  husband."  Upon  my  inquiring  into  the  cause,  he 
informed  me  that  "her  husband  having  been  long  afflicted 
with  an  ulcer,  she  prevailed  with  him  at  last  to  let  her  inspect 
the  sore,  assuring  him  at  the  same  time  that  she  would  most 
sincerely  give  her  opinion  whether  there  was  a  possibility  of  its 
being  cured.  Accordingly,  upon  viewing  the  ulcer,  she  found 
the  case  hopeless,  and  therefore  advised  him  to  put  an  end  to 
his  life  ;  she  herself  accompanying  him,  even  leading  the  way 
by  her  exarnple,  and  being  actually  the  means  of  his  death  ;  for 
tying  herself  to  her  husband,  she  plunged  with  him  into  the 
lake."  Though  this  happened  in  the  very  city  where  I  was 
born,  I  never  heard  it  mentioned  before  ;  and  yet,  that  this  ac- 
tion is  taken  less  notice  of  than  that  famous  one  of  Arria's,  is 
not  because  it  was  less  remarkable,  but  because  the  person 
who  performed  it  was  more  obscure. 

These  are,  one  will  say,  exceptions,  and  exceptions  purification  of 
provoked  by  a  reaction  against  the  general  disorder.  It  Trajan.un<kr 
seems,  however,  that  after  the  reigns  of  Nero  and  of 
Domitian  society  had  been  for  a  short  space  purified  by 
suffering.  The  virtue  of  the  women  was  certainly  re- 
newed by  it.  The  Palatine,  where  Messalina  and  Pop- 
paea  had  reigned,  was  occupied  under  Trajan  by  good 
princesses,  modest  in  their  dress,  without  parade, 
affable  in  manner,  who  practiced  all  the  domestic  vir- 
tues. In  the  great  world,  also,  which  imitates  its 
leaders,  morals  seemed  to  become  purer.  This  at  least 
is  the  impression  left  by  the  perusal  of  Pliny's  letters. 

But  even  if  the  deeds  which  we  have  recalled  are  only 
heroic  exceptions,  they  prove  at  least  that  there  is  no 
hour  of  history  where  one  can  cease  admiring  women, 
and  that  expiring  antiquity  could  show  to  young  Chris- 
tianity heroines  not  unworthy  of  being  compared  with 
its  martyrs. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    ROMAN    HOUSE. 

LET  us  try  to  replace  in  their  environment  these 
Roman  men  and  women  whose  education  and  married 
life  we  have  attempted  to  describe. 

RometreetS°f          Let   us   walk   along  a  street   of   ancient   Rome   and 
observe  its  aspect. 

Even  when  the  city  had  been  rebuilt,  after  Nero's  fire, 
the  streets,  with  few  exceptions,  would  seem  to  us 
scarcely  wide  enough.  But  narrow  streets,  since  they 
serve  to  secure  shade  and  coolness,  are  almost  a  neces- 
sity for  the  peoples  of  the  South,  a  fact  overlooked  by 
the  builders  of  modern  Athens.  There  is,  moreover, 
another  explanation  of  the  narrow  streets,  and  that  is 
the  natural  configuration  of  the  land,  with  its  many  hills 
,  and  ravines.  On  each  side  of  the  long  streets  rose 

Height  of  the      houses   whose   height,    while   it   terrified  the  ancients, 

buildings. 

would  not  excite  surprise  in  our  day.  Strabo,  the 
Greek  geographer,  reports  that  Augustus  had  forbidden 
the  erection  of  buildings  higher  than  seventy  feet.  This 
restriction  applied  only  to  the  facade,  for  a  greater 
height  was  allowed  in  that  part  of  the  building  which 
did  not  overlook  the  public  street.  Nero  reduced  still 
further  this  limit,  and  Trajan,  if  we  may  trust  Aurelius 
Victor,  a  Latin  historian  of  the  fourth  century,  finally 
made  the  limit  sixty  feet.  However  this  may  be,  the 
citizens  of  Rome  complained  very  much  of  this  piling  up 
of  story  upon  story.  They  were  always  afraid  of  falling 
buildings  or  fire.  Listen  to  the  words  which  Juvenal 
puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  poor  Umbritius  : 


The  Roman  House. 


59 


Who  fears  the  crash  of  houses  in  retreat 
At  simple  Gabii,  bleak  Prseneste's  seat, 
Volsinium's  craggy  heights,  embowered  in  wood, 
Or  Tibur,  beetling  o'er  prone  Anio's  flood? 
While  half  the  city  here  by  shores  is  staid, 
And  feeble  cramps,  that  lend  a  treacherous  aid  : 
For  thus  the  stewards  patch  the  riven  wall, 
Thus  prop  the  mansion,  tottering  to  its  fall  ; 
Then  bid  the  tenant  court  secure  repose, 
While  the  pile  nods  to  every  blast  that  blows. 

O  !  may  I  live  where  no  such  fears  molest, 
No  midnight  fires  burst  on  my  hour  of  rest  ! 
For  here  'tis  terror  all  ;  mid  the  loud  cry 
Of  "  water  !  water  !  "  the  scared  neighbors  fly, 
With  all  their  haste  can  seize  —  the  flames  aspire, 
And  the  third  floor  is  wrapt  in  smoke  and  fire, 
While  you,  unconscious,  doze.     Up,  ho  !  and  know 
The  impetuous  blaze  which  spreads  dismay  below, 
By  swift  degrees  will  reach  the  aerial  cell, 
Where,  crouching,  underneath  the  tiles,  you  dwell, 
Where  your  tame  doves  their  golden  couplets  rear, 
And  you  could  no  mischance  but  drowning  fear. 

One  feature  of  the  streets  of  Rome  which  would  have 
excited  the  astonishment  of  a  modern  was  the  aspect  of 
the  facades.  The  Romans  of  the  time  of  the  Antonines, 
although  they  had  already  the  taste  for  symmetry  of 
form,  which  their  descendants  in  Italy  have  so  well 
preserved  and  developed,  did  not  seek  for  symmetry 
in  the  construction  of  their  buildings.  Our  modern 
architecture  sacrifices  much  to  the  front  elevation  ;  the 
ancients  scarcely  thought  of  that.  Irregular  lines  were 
allowed  where  we  should  have  straight  lines.  While 
we  seek  symmetry  in  the  openings  of  our  dwellings, 
an  ancient  Roman  house  would  have  windows  isolated, 
or  irregularly  arranged,  in  the  upper  stories.  While 
we  wish  to  have  the  light  pour  freely  into  our  rooms, 


Danger  of  fall- 


6o 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s  .Time. 


Inequality 
in  height. 


Shops. 


while  \ve  multiply  large  windows,  in  Roman  houses 
there  were  no  rooms  upon  the  ground  floor  opening 
on  the  street.  While  the  two  sides  of  our  streets  look 
like  the  two  sides  of  a  trench  which  have  been  care- 
fully kept  equal  in  height,  it  was  not  rare  to  see  in 
Rome  an  inequality  in  height  between  the  different 
parts  of  even  a  single  building.  In  short,  the  Romans 


REMAINS  OF  A  HOUSE  AT  POMPEII. 

seem  to  have  professed  much  indifference,  if  not  actual 
disdain,  for  symmetry  in  architecture. 

The  irregular  aspect  of  their  streets  was  increased  by 
numbers  of  little  sheds,  put  up  against  the  houses  and 
encroaching  upon  the  street.  Here  small  trades  were 
carried  on.  Here  were  taverns  and  shops.  Domitian 
tried  to  change  all  this. 

The  audacious  shopkeepers  [says  Martial]  had  appropriated 
to  themselves  the  whole  city,  and  a  man's  own  threshold  was 


The  Roman  House. 


61 


not  his  own.     You,  Germanicus  [Domitian],  bade  the  narrow 
streets  grow  wide  ;  and  what  but  just  before  was  a  pathway  be-    Domitian's 
came  a  highway.     No  column  is  now  girt  at  the  bottom  with    frnprovVthe 
chained  wine-flagons  ;  nor  is  the  prsetor  compelled  to  walk  in   streets. 
the  midst  of  the  mud.     Nor,  again,  is  the  barber's  razor  drawn 
blindly  in  the  middle  of  a  crowd,  nor  does  the  smutty  cook- 
shop  project  over  every  street.     The  barber,  the  vintner,  the 
cook,  the  butcher, 
keep   their    own 
places.    The  city  is 
now    Rome;   re- 
cently  it  was  a 
great  shop. 

Doubtless  at  this 
time  were  con- 
structed some  of 
those  arched 
over  streets — ar- 
cades— of  which 
the  world's  cap- 
ital was  proud. 

But  nothing  is 
more  difficult 
than  to  remove 
a  little  horde  of 
shopkeepers,  to 
break  up  their 
habits  of  life. 
Moreover,  what-" 
ever  Martial  may  say,  Domitian  did  not  wholly  suc- 
ceed ;  for  we  find  in  386  the  prefect  of  the  city,  Pretex- 
tatus,  issuing  edicts  similar  to  those  of  the  last  emperor 
of  the  Flavian  dynasty. 

The  Romans  enjoy  the  merited  reputation  of  having  The  Roman: 
been  great  builders.  They  owe  this  above  all  to  their  as  builders- 
admirable  public  works — sewers,  roads,  causeways,  and 


POMPEIIAN  HOUSE-FOUNTAIN.    Museum  of 
Naples. 


62 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s    Time. 


Simplicity  of 
private  houses 
under  the 
republic. 


Increasing 
magnificence 
of  private 
dwellings 
under  the 
empire. 


aqueducts.       But  their  private  architecture,  in  spite  of 
its  late  development,  is  not  less  worthy  of  attention. 

Up  to  the  time  of  Sulla,  private  houses  were  of  a 
great  simplicity.  Under  the  empire,  those  who  were 
enthusiastic  defenders  of  the  ancient  customs  would 
recall  with  expressions  of  praise  the  little  house,  so 
small  that  it  could  be  torn  down  in  one  day,  of  the 
consul,  Valerius  Publicola,  or  the  modest  dwellings  of 


ATRIUM  OF  THE  POMPEIIAN  HOUSE  AT  SARATOGA  SPRINGS,  N.  Y. 
Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect. 

the  ^lian  family  or  of  Cato  Uticensis.  But  from  the 
end  of  the  republic  this  simplicity  began  to  disappear. 
In  93  B.  C. ,  the  censor  L.  Crassus  decorated  his 
atrium  with  columns  of  marble  from  Mount  Hymettus  ; 
fifteen  years  later  the  consul  Lepidus  had  a  sill  of 
Numidian  marble  placed  in  his  house.  Such  magnifi- 
cence at  that  time  caused  much  gossip.  All  the  idlers 
of  Rome,  and  they  were  numerous,  discussed  the 


The  Roman  House.  63 

matter.  But  this  luxury  was  soon  to  cease  being  a 
cause  for  surprise.  In  the  half-century  which  preceded 
the  birth  of  Christ,  the  taste  for  beautiful  buildings  tifui  buildings. 
became  general.  It  spread  on  account  of  the  eastern 
wars,  after  the  expeditions  of  Q.  Metellus  Creticus,  of 
P.  Servilius  Isauricus,  of  Pompey,  and  of  Lucullus. 
The  splendor  and  magnificence  of  the  eastern  world 
dazzled  the  descendants  of  Romulus,  and  the  immense 
wealth  brought  from  this  marvelous  region  by  the 
Roman  officers  and  revenue  collectors  (a  freedman 
of  Pompey,  Demetrius,  left  a  fortune  of  four  thou- 
sand talents,  about  $5,000,000)  was  put  into  buildings. 
Then  came  Augustus,  who  wished  to  make  Rome  the 
capital  of  the  universal  empire  which  he  had  founded. 
His  great  public  works  gave  an  impulse  to  private 
buildings,  and,  according  to  a  famous  saying,  from  a 
city  of  bricks  Rome  became  a  city  of  marble. 

Vitruvius,   Latin  author  of  a  work  on  architecture, 

Grandeur  in 

expressed  the  requirements  or  the  new  taste  as  follows  :   private  archi- 
tecture. 

When  you  build  for  important  personages,  you  must  make 
vestibules  high  and  of  a  royal  aspect,  a  very  large  atrium, 
peristyles,  parks,  and  spacious,  imposing  driveways.  You 
must  add  libraries,  picture  galleries,  and  basilicas  as  grand  as 
those  of  public  edifices. 

Grandeur  was  in  truth  the  effect  sought  in  private 
dwellings,  beginning  from  this  time,  and  Ovid  and 
Sallust  were  not  wholly  incorrect,  if  they  did  exaggerate 
somewhat,  when  they  said  that  certain  great  mansions 
of  Rome  might  have  been  taken  for  towns. 

We  ask  the  reader  to  follow  us  into  one  of  these 
abodes  of  wealth. 

In  front  of  the  entrance  is  quite  a  large  place,  usually  The  vestibule. 
surrounded   by  porches,   called  the  vestibule.     It  was 
there  that  the  clients  remained  while  waiting  for  their 


64 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


The  porter's 
rooms. 


patron  to  wake  up  in  the  morning.  A  short  corridor, 
•\\\^  prothyrum.  called  the  prothyrum,  connects  the  vestibule  with  the  in- 
terior. At  the  right 
and  at  the  left  are 
situated  rooms  for 
the  porter  and  his 
assistants,  the  watch 
dogs.  If  a  man  could 
not  or  would  not 
have  mastiffs  for 
guardians,  he  re- 
placed them  by  a 
painting  which  repre- 
sented them  showing 
their  teeth,  and 
above  these  dogs  in 
effigy  was  written  in 
large  letters,  "Be- 
ware of  the  dog" 
(Cave  canem,  or 
sometimes  the  abbre- 
viation C.  C. ). 

At  the  rear  of  the 
prothyrum  is  a  heavy 
double  door  of  oak. 
•Let  us  open  it  and 
enter  the  atrium,  to 
which  it  gives  access. 
The  atrium  is  the 
essential  room  of  a 

Roman  house,  the  room  to  which  all  the  other  parts  of 
the  house  are  subordinate.  Its  importance  requires 
that  we  pause  to  examine  it  a  few  moments. 

It  is  a  vast  court,  lighted  through  an  opening  in  the 


The  atrium. 


STUCCO— WALL  OR  CEILING  DECORATION. 


The  Roman  House.  65 

roof.      Here  the  family  assembles,  here  is  the  hearth, 

the  treasure  chest,  and  formerly  you  would  find  here  the   Description  of 

*    J  the  atrium. 

bed  of  the  father  of  the  family.  The  smoke  escapes 
through  the  opening  overhead  in  the  roof,  through 
which  also  the  rain  falls  into  the  impluvium,  a  basin 
sunk  in  the  center  of  the  floor,  whence  it  is  afterward 
distributed  through  the  rest  of  the  house.  Up  to  the 
fourth  century  before  Christ,  the  lar,  or  tutelar  divinity 
of  the  house,  was  placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  atrium. 
In  the  houses  of  the  nobles,  the  images  of  the  family  an- 
cestors, often  made  of  wax,  occupied  the  wings  or 
recesses  of  the  atrium.  New  families  adorned  the 
atrium  with  medallions  in  bronze  or  silver. 

There  were  five  different  kinds  of  atria,  distinguished 

.  .  .  .  Different  kinds 

by  their  architectural    peculiarities.      But  we  shall  not  of'atria. 
make  a  point  of  these  differences,  as  we  wish  to  consider 
only  what  is  essential  and  not  to  enter  into  archaeologi- 
cal curiosities.       We  select  then  a  typical  atrium  for  our 
description. 

It  is  worth  our  while  to  notice  the  luxury  that  is  dis-    _ 

J  The  luxury 

played   in  this  room.      Its  dimensions  are  very  large,    of  the  atrium. 

An  idea  of  the  size  of  the  atrium  may  be  gained  from 

the  information  which  we  have  that  the  atrium  of  Scau- 

rus  (58  B.  C.)  was  thirty-eight  feet  high.      Cornices  of 

white  marble  from  Mt.  Hymettus  rest  upon  columns  of 

Numidian  marble  ;    ivory  gleams  on  the  gilded  soffits. 

Between  the  columns  were  sometimes  planted  trees  or 

shrubs.     These  are  what  Horace,  with  a  satiric  poet's 

exaggeration,   called  forests.     The  floor  is  paved  with 

mosaic  ;  for  the  mosaic  art  was  well  advanced  at  Rome 

and  was  much  admired.      It  is  said  that  Caesar,  even  in 

his  military  expeditions,  carried  with  him  mosaics  for 

his  tent.     At  the  sides  of  the  atrium  are  colonnades, 

whose  gutters  feed  the  central  basin,   the  impluvium. 


66 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


Decorations 
of  the  atrium. 


Purple  hang- 
ings. 


Paintings. 


This  basin  was  often  ornamented  by  a  fountain.  The 
opening  in  the  ceiling  of  the  atrium  was  sometimes 
covered  with  hangings  of  purple  stretched  from  the 
entablature  of  one  column  to  that  of  another.  These 
hangings  shut  out  the  hot  sun  and  cast  a  reddish  light 
upon  the  bright,  polished  floor. 

Painting  was  also  used  to  decorate  the  atrium.      M. 


ATRIUM  OF  THE  POMPEIIAN  HOUSE  AT  SARATOGA  SPRINGS,  N.  Y. 
Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect. 

Boissier,  in  his  work  entitled  "Archaeological  Ram- 
bles," speaks  of  paintings  found  in  a  handsome  Roman 
house,  during  some  excavations  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber.  He  describes  them  as  ' '  architectural  designs 
painted  with  much  elegance — figures  boldly  outlined, 
columns  linked  by  garlands  and  arabesques,  and  be- 
tween them  medallions  bearing  representations  of  scenes 
from  every-day  life,  feasts,  concerts,  sacrifices." 


The  Roman  House.  67 

But  it  is  time  to  continue  our  trip  through  the  Roman 
house. 

In  the  rear  of  the  atrium  are  three  rooms.  The 
first,  which  is  opposite  the  door  opening  into  the 
prothyrum,  is  the  archive-chamber,  called  the  tablinum.  ite  tablinum 
Here  the  archives  are  stored.  On  each  side  of  the 
atrium,  right  and  left,  is  a  recess  called  a  wing,  where 
the  family  portraits  are  kept  and  the  busts  of  ancestors. 
These  precious  souvenirs  are  supported  upon  shelves, 
below  which  are  inscriptions  recalling  the  titles  and  the 
honors  of  the  individuals  represented. 

Along  the  sides  of  the  atrium  are  the  dining-halls,  The  dining- 
called  triclinia,  of  which  a  Roman  house  contained 
several.  There  is  one  dining-hall  for  large  receptions, 
another  for  a  gathering  of  friends  ;  there  is  one  fronting 
west  for  winter,  one  fronting  east  for  spring  and  fall, 
and  for  summer  one  fronting  north.  Let  us  enter  one 
of  the  dining-halls.  At  its  four  corners  are  lamp- 
stands.  The  center  is  occupied  by  the  table,  along 
three  sides  of  which  are  couches,  where  those  who  are 
eating  recline.  The  Romans,  in  fact,  borrowed  rather 
early  from  the  eastern  nations  the  custom  of  reclining 
at  table.  Finally,  on  the  side  of  the  table  not  occu- 
pied by  the  couches  is  the  abacus  or  sideboard,  upon 
which,  on  grand  reception  days,  were  displayed,  in 
honor  of  the  guests,  costly  vases,  dishes  of  gold  and  of 
silver,  objects  of  art  or  of  curiosity,  in  short  whatever 
might  convey  some  idea  of  the  opulence  of  the  owner  of 
the  house. 

On  each  side  of  the  tablinum  are  passages,  leading  to 
the  truly  private  part  of  the  house,  the  rooms  which  no 
one  was  expected  to  enter  without  being  invited. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  peristyle.     The   peristyle,    The  peristyle, 
like  the  atrium,    is  a   court  ;   but  while  the  atrium   is 


68  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


'covered,  the  peristyle  is  open  to  the  sky.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  uses  of  the  two  rooms  explains  this 
difference  in  construction.  Visitors  are  received  in  the 
atrium  ;  the  peristyle  is  reserved  for  the  family.  More- 
over, the  central  part  of  the  peristyle,  inside  the  col- 
umns, is  occupied  by  flower  beds,  the  xystus,  and  not 
by  mosaic. 

apartments.  Upon  this    garden  open     the    women's    apartments 

Library.  (the  c£ci) ,  and  also  the  library,  fronting  east.     But  there 

were  few  libraries  except  in  the  houses  of  the  rich. 
Books  were  for  the  ancients  objects  of  great  luxury,  the 
invention  of  printing  not  yet  having  made  them  cheap. 
At  Pompeii,  which  was  a  town  of  prosperous  trades- 
men, books  have  not  yet  been  discovered.  The  account 
books  of  the  banker  Caecilius  Jucundus,  found  recently, 
cannot  be  regarded  as  literary  relics.  The  library  was 
made  to  face  east,  because  those  who  used  it  would  do 
their  work  there  usually  in  the  morning,  and  besides  the 
books  would  suffer  less  from  damp. 

Looking  west  is  the  exedra.  In  this  hall,  usually 
han'ecture  rather  long,  furnished  with  seats  along  the  sides,  the 
owner  of  the  house  would  seek  recreation  from  his 
business  cares,  in  conversing  with  poets,  rhetoricians, 
and  philosophers.  If  M.  Jourdain  had  been  acquainted 
with  Roman  antiquities,  he  would  not  have  failed  to 
arrange  in  his  house  a  room  of  this  kind.  Then  he 
would  have  been  able  to  escape  from  the  scolding  of 
Nicole,  his  servant,  and  the  upbraidings  of  Madam 
Jourdain,  his  wife. 

Tennis-court.  A  tennis-court,   called  the  sphceristerium,   and  baths 

Baths.  occupied  the  rest  of  the  ground  floor  of  a  Roman  house. 

The   use   of    artificial    baths    was    introduced    from 

Greece.     In  the  early  times  of  the  republic,  after  their 

rude  exercises   on   the   Campus   Martius,   the   athletes 


The  Roman  House. 


69 


would  go  and  plunge  into   the  Tiber.      But  we  know 

what  rapid   progress  Greek  customs   made  at  Rome.    Grr°|kecus 

Although  few  baths,   according  to  Pliny,  were  known  at  Rome- 

up  to  the  time  of  Pompey, 

there  was  scarcely  a  house 

of  importance   in   the  first 

century    of    our    era    that 

was   not   fitted    up    with 

apartments  for  bathing. 

The  bath  was  a  suite  of 
rooms  where  one  could 
take  a  cold,  a  warm,  a 
vapor,  or  a  hot  bath.  In 
the  houses  of  the  rich  there 
were  separate  bathing 
apartments  for  the  women. 
The  usual  time  for  bathing 
was-  just  before  dinner, 
from  one  to  three  o'clock. 
Few  besides  the  very 
voluptuous  bathed  after 
this  meal. 

Let  us  follow  a  bather 
through  the  process  of  a 
very  elaborate  bath, 
noticing  as  we  go  the 
arrangements  of  the  rooms. 

He  enters  first  the  tepi- 

darinm,  a  moderately  heated  room,  not  meant  for 
bathing.  Here  he  sits  for  a  while  before  undressing 
and  perspires.  He  then  removes  his  clothes,  leaves 
them  in  charge  of  slaves  who  put  them  in  cupboards 
kept  for  the  purpose,  and  he  passes  to  the  caldarium,  The - 
or  hot  room.  This  room  is  constructed  with  much 


CANDELABRUM. 


70  Roman  Life  in  Pliny •' s   Time. 

care ;  it  is  provided  at  one  end  with  a  warm  bath,  the 
alveus,  and  at  the  other  end  there  is  a  circular  alcove  or 
chamber  called  the  sudatorium  (sweating-room)  or  the 
laconicum,  which  is  kept  much  hotter  than  the  main 
part  of  the  room.  The  caldarium  is  directly  over  the 
furnace,  and  has  under  the  pavement  a  number  of  flues, 
through  which  hot  air  is  supplied  to  heat  the  floor  ; 
the  walls,  too,  of  this  room  are  sometimes  hollow,  and 
are  heated  by  a  circulation  of  hot  air  from  the  furnace. 
After  a  plunge  in  the  alveus  the  bather  enters  the 

Judatorium.  sudatorium.  This  circular  recess  has  a  hemispherically 
vaulted  ceiling,  with  an  opening  at  the  top,  which  is 
closed  by  a  movable  disk.  If  the  atmosphere  becomes 
too  suffocating,  the  disk  is  lowered  by  means  of  a  cord 
worked  from  below,  and  some  of  the  hot  air  is  allowed 
to  escape. 

Running  around  this  domical  chamber  are  steps 
rising  one  above  another ;  on  the  topmost  step  are 
niches,  containing  each  one  an  arm-chair.  In  the 
center  on  the  floor  there  is  some  gymnastic  apparatus, 
and  also  a  tub  of  hot  water.  The  bather,  if  he  desires, 
starts  the  perspiration  by  lifting  weights,  or  by  some 
other  exercise,  and  then  he  begins  to  ascend  the  steps, 
gradually  habituating  himself  to  the  temperature,  which 
grows  hotter  and  hotter  as  he  rises.  When  he  reaches 
the  top,  he  sits  in  one  of  the  arm-chairs  and  lets  the 
perspiration  flow.  Before  leaving  this  chamber  he 
bathes  in  the  tub  of  hot  water.  From  the  caldarium 
the  bather  returns  to  the  tepidarium.  Here  he  is 

Masseurs,  etc.  treated  by  the  masseurs,  by  others  whose  business  it  is 
to  pull  out  hairs  and  trim  nails,  by  those  who,  with 
strigils,  bronze  instruments,  thin  and  flexible  like  hoops, 
scrape  his  skin  all  over  to  remove  the  impurities.  The 
bather,  then,  if  he  wishes  to  omit  nothing,  passes  to  the 


The  Roman  Ho2tse,  71 

frigidarium,  or  cool  room,  where  he  takes  a  plunge  in  J^idarium 
the  baptisterium ,  a  basin  sunk  in  the  floor,  or,  if  he 
prefers,  gives  himself  a  cool  sponge  bath,  standing 
before  a  bowl  of  moderate  size,  supported  upon  legs. 
Finally  he  comes  back  to  the  tepidarium,  and  before 
putting  on  his  clothes  he  is  rubbed  by  slaves  with  a 
liniment,  to  relieve  itching  and  eruptions,  wiped  with 
fine  towels  of  linen  or  of  cotton,,  anointed  with  oil,  and 
perfumed.  Then  he  feels  comfortable. 

Some  bathers  preferred  to  begin  with  the  cold  bath, 
and  often  a  bather  took  only  the  cold  bath  or  only  the 
warm  one.  None  but  the  most  luxurious  went  through 
the  whole  process  frequently. 

Besides  the  baths  of  private  houses,  there  were  the 
public  baths. 

The  first  floor  only  of  a  Roman  house  offers  much 
that  is  interesting  to  us.  There  is  little  to  be  said 
about  the  upper  stories,  which  contained  less  important 
rooms.  The  staircase  giving  access  to  them  was  The  staircase, 
usually  only  a  steep  and  narrow  ladder.  The  Romans 
would  have  been  unable  to  understand  the  importance 
which  we  attach  to  this  part  of  our  buildings.  Their 
indifference  in  this  matter  has  been  too  faithfully  pre- 
served in  certain  provinces  of  our  modern  France, 
where  they  build  a  house  first  and  afterward  put  in  the 
staircase  wherever  they  can,  no  matter  how. 

By  the  preceding  description  of  a  Roman  house  the 
reader  can  see  that  when  the  ancients  constructed  their 
homes  they  were  not  influenced  by  the  same  considera- 
tions that  influence  us  when  we  build  homes.      Public   Intensityof 
life  among  the  moderns  is  much  less  intense,  if  I  may  P^jjfg1^ 
use  the  expression,  than  in  the  republics  of  antiquity.   ancients. 
When  we  speak  of   the   agitations  of   the   forum,   we 
merely  make   use   of   a   trite   metaphor.     Among   the 


72  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s  Time. 

Romans  the  expression  was  exactly  literal,  even  under 
the  empire,  even  when  Augustus  had  pacified  the 
public  square,  according  to  the  expression  of  Tacitus. 
The  men  lived  much  outside  of  their  homes — in  the 
street,  at  the  baths,  in  the  market-places,  at  the  spec- 
tacles, at  the  lecture  halls,  at  the  tribunals.  Conse- 
quently, when  they  returned  home  they  experienced  a 
need  of  isolation  all  the  greater.  Those  who  were 
obliged  to  receive  visitors  always  reserved  a  part  of 
Provision  for  their  house  where  no  one  should  intrude  or  disturb  the 

seclusion  in  a  .  .  . 

private  house,  family  retirement.  Did  a  client,  a  person  seeking  a 
favor,  or  a  bore  of  any  kind,  insist  upon  seeing  the 
master  of  the  house?  The  emergency  had  been  fore- 
seen, and  by  a  rear  door  leading  into  some  narrow 
passage,  the  master,  without  difficulty,  escaped  from 
this  troublesome  caller.  With  us,  back  stairs  are  not 
always  provided  in  our  houses,  and  even  where  they  do 
exist,  they  do  not  afford  such  a  sure  and  secret  means 
of  escape  as  the  Romans  enjoyed.  The  world  enters 
freely  into  our  houses,  and  when  it  does  not  enter,  we 
try  at  least  to  view  it  through  our  wide-open  windows. 
An  ancient  house,  instead  of  looking  toward  the  street, 
looked  away  from  it.  In  short,  the  comparison  be- 
tween an  ancient  and  a  modern  house  is  sufficient  to 
show  us  that  although  family  life  among  us  may  occupy 
more  hours  of  a  man's  life,  it  is  less  retired  and  less 
intimate  than  it  was  among  the  ancients. 

Reduce  the  dimensions  of  the  costly  house  that  we 
The  houses  of  have  described,  omit  some  rooms,  those  that  could  be 
daess"ldc  serviceable  only  in  a  wealthy  man's  home,  the  library, 

the  exedra,  the  tennis-court,  and  you  will  have  an  idea 
of  the  sort  of  houses  that  the  middle  class  dwelt  in. 
The  general  plan  was  the  same.  In  the  houses  dis- 
covered at  Pompeii,  a  town  of  small  tradesmen,  the 


The  Roman  House. 


73 


atrium,  peristyle,  etc.,  were  always  found.  Only  in- 
stead of  the  artistic  magnificence  displayed  in  the  city 
palaces,  we  observe  in  these  provincial  dwellings  proofs 
of  the  bad  taste  always  exhibited  by  those  who  have  not  Poor  taste 

J  exhibited  in 

long   possessed   means.     In   the    peristyle,    instead   of  provincial 

3    *  dwellings. 

beautiful  green  grass  and  fountains  there  are  sickly 
shrubs,  and  mere  threads  of  water,  which  the  people 
ostentatiously  called  channels  (euripi},  and  grottoes  of 


PERISTYLE  OK  THE  POMPEIIAN  HOUSE  AT  SARATOGA  SPRINGS,  N.  Y. 
Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect. 

stones  or  shells.      Stucco  or  poor  imitations  of  metals  imitative 
take  the  place  of  marble  and  of  bronze.     Many  of  the  d 
citizens  of  Pompeii  must  have  resembled  that  Parisian 
shopkeeper  described  by  M.  Sardou  in  the  "  Bons  Vil- 
lageois  "  ;  when  he  retired  to  the  country  he  had  a  villa 
built  for  him  adorned  with  vases  of  imitation  marble 
and  lighted  by  imitation  windows  furnished  with  imi- 
tation curtains. 


74  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's    Time, 


We  wish  we  were  as  well  informed  in  regard  to  the 
3wl"  dwellings  of  the  poor.  Unfortunately,  the  poets  and 
flings  romancers  paid  little  attention  to  the  poor.  The  active 

>r. 

interest  which  is  felt  to-day  in  the  lower  classes,   the 


curiosity  with  which  we  read  the  books  which  depict 
their  manner  of  life,  the  craving  even  which  we  feel  for 
these  representations  of  humble  society — all  this  did  not 
exist  among  the  ancients.  Except  for  the  little  poem 


MARS  AND  VENUS.    WALL  DECORATION.    Pompeii. 

"Moretum,"   ascribed  to  Virgil,  the  romance  of  Petro- 

Sources  of  . 

information.  mus,  and  a  few  scenes  from  comedy,  we  find  nothing 
in  ancient  literature  to  give  us  information  about  the 
poorer  classes.  But,  after  all,  what  could  we  learn 
that  we  do  not  know  ?  It  is  only  palaces  that  change 
in  appearance.  Huts  remain  the  same  in  all  times.  It 
is  luxury  that  assumes  new  aspects.  Poverty  has  not 
so  much  variety. 


The  Roman  House.  75 

Withdraw  from  my  cottage,   little    mouse,   hiding    in    the 
shadow.     The  kneading-trough  of  Leonidas  cannot  feed  mice.    A  poor  man's 
Here  is  an  old  man,  content  with  little ;  for  whom  some  salt   couage- 
and  two  barley  cakes  are  enough,  and  who  lives  without  com- 
plaining, as  his  fathers  have  lived.     What  are  you  looking  for 
in  his  house,   dainty  mouse?    You  will    not    find    here  the 
crumbs  from  a  dinner.     Quickly  go  to  my  neighbors.     There 
ample  provisions  wait  you. 

Thus  spoke  from  the  inside  of  his  home  a  poor  man 
who  lived  two  centuries  before  Christ.  One  hundred 
and  fifty  years  earlier,  Chremylos,  a  character  in  one  of 
the  comedies  of  Aristophanes,  gives  this  description  of 
an  Athenian  hovel  : 

The  gnats  and  fleas  that  buzz  about  your  head, 

I  cannot  count,  so  great  their  multitude. 

They  wake  you,  and  their  shrill  pipe  seems  to  say, 

"Up,  wretch,  although  you're  hungry,  up,  arise." 

You  have  besides  a  tatter  for  a  quilt, 

And  for  a  bed  your  rushes  full  of  bugs, 

That  will  not  let  you  drop  your  drowsy  lids, 

And  for  a  pillow  underneath  your  head 

A  good  sized  stone. 

It  is  indeed  always  the  same  story ;  beggars  of 
Athens,  beggars  of  Rome,  beggars  of  Paris — forlorn 
always,  in  all  countries,  your  hovels  have  no  history. 
The  houses  where  people  die  of  cold  are  all  built  in  the 
same  fashion  and  their  style  is  eternal. 

Let  us  return,  then,  to  the  fortunate  inhabitants  of  The  furniture 
the  world.  Judging  from  the  luxury  displayed  in  the 
construction  of  their  dwellings,  one  is  tempted  to  be- 
lieve that  they  were  sumptuously  furnished.  This  temp- 
tation must  be  resisted,  for  it  will  lead  us  into  error. 
The  Romans  of  ancient  times  had  no  more  idea  of  com- 
fort than  their  descendants  and  the  peoples  of  the  South 
in  general.  The  great  palaces  of  modern  Rome  often 
contain  rooms  very  beautiful,  but  gloomy  on  account  of 


76  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s  Time, 

their  bareness.  There  is  nothing  but  some  master- 
piece, picture  or  statue,  for  the  eyes  to  rest  upon.  It 
was  very  much  the  same  in  the  ancient  houses.  Noth- 
ing, or  almost  nothing,  for  convenience,  everything  for 
show.  While  the  entire  house  was  scantily  furnished, 
The  furniture  the  reception  halls  often  contained  a  few  very  handsome 

of  reception  _  •' 

halls-  articles — tables  made  from  citrus  wood  with  ivory  legs, 

couches  veneered  with  tortoise-shell,  or  ornamented  with 
gold  and  silver,  and  covered  with  Babylonian  tapestry, 
vases  of  Corinthian  bronze  and  of  murrhine  ware, 
dressers  decked  with  silver,  and  candelabra,  like  those  of 
which  Lucretius  speaks  : 

What  though  about  the  halls  no  silent  band 

Of  golden  boys  on  many  a  pedestal 
Dangle  their  hanging  lamps  from  outstretched  hand, 

To  flare  along  the  midnight  festival ! 

Vanity  may  indeed  partly  account  for  this  manner  of 
furnishing  a  house,  but  doubtless  a  taste  for  the  plastic 
arts,  so  keen  from  this  time  among  the  people  of  Italy, 
had  something  to  do  with  it.  There  were  surely  among 
the  Romans  some  enlightened  amateurs  who  were  not 
actuated  merely  by  the  single  desire  of  dazzling  their 
visitors.  Read  the  charming  description  which  Pliny 
gives  us  of  a  Corinthian  statue  which  he  had  purchased: 

Out  of  a  legacy  that  was  left  me  I  have  just  bought  a  statue 
Pliny's  descrip-  of  Corinthian  bronze.  It  is  small,  but  thoroughly  clever  and 
Corinthian  done  to  the  life — at  least,  in  my  judgment,  which,  in  matters  of 
statue.  this  sort,  and  perhaps  of  every  sort,  is  not  worth  much.  How- 

ever, I  really  do  see  the  merits  of  this  statue.  It  is  a  nude 
figure,  and  its  faults,  if  it  has  any,  are  as  clearly  observable  as 
its  beauties.  It  represents  an  old  man  standing  up.  The 
bones,  the  muscles,  the  veins,  and  the  very  wrinkles,  all  look 
like  life.  The  hair  is  thin,  the  forehead  broad,  the  face 
shrunken,  the  throat  lank,  the  arms  hang  down  feebly,  the 
chest  is  fallen  in,  and  the  belly  sunk.  Looked  at  from  behind, 


The  Roman  House. 


77 


the  figure  is  just  as  expressive  of  old  age.  The  bronze,  to 
judge  from  its  color,  has  the  marks  of  great  antiquity.  In 
short,  it  is  in  all  respects  a  work  which  would  strike  the  eye  of 
a  connoisseur,  and  which  cannot  fail  to  charm  an  ordinary 
observer.  This  induced  me,  novice  as  I  am  in  such  matters, 
to  buy  it.  However,  I  bought  it  not  to  put  in  my  own  house 
(for  I  never  had  there  a  Corinthian  bronze),  but  with  the 
intention  of  placing  it  in  some  conspicuous  situation  in  the 
place  of  my  birth,  perhaps  in  the  Temple  of  Jupiter,  which 
has  the  best  claim  to  it.  It  is  a  gift  well  worthy  of  a  temple 
and  of  a  god.  Do 
you,  with  that 
kind  attention 
which  you  always 
give  to  my  re- 
quests, undertake 
this  matter,  and 
order  a  pedestal  to 
be  made  for  it  out 
of  any  marble  you 
please,  and  let  my 
name,  and,  if  you 
think  fit,  my 
various  titles,  be 
engraven  upon  it. 
I  will  send  you  the  statue  by  the  first  person  who  will  not 
object  to  the  trouble  ;  or,  what  I  am  sure  you  will  like  better, 
I  will  bring  it  myself,  for  I  intend,  if  I  can  get  away  from 
business,  to  take  a  run  into  your  parts. 


TABLES. 


In  short,  comfort,  which  is  a  necessity  for  people  of 
the  North,  is  not  required  by  southerners.  What  must 
they  have?  Coolness  and  shade,  also  rooms  reserved 
for  family  life,  even  if  they  are  very  small  and  receive 
the  air  and  light  only  by  the  door.  Of  what  use  to 
furnish  such  rooms?  A  bed,  a  chair — was  anything 
more  necessary  for  napping  at  noon  or  sleeping  at  night? 

Let  us  not  exaggerate,  then,  the  luxury  in  the  fur- 
nishing of  a  Roman  house.  Doubtless  certain  articles 


Pliny's  gift  to 
his  native  town. 


78  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

Costly  of  furniture  were   very  costly.      Doubtless   there  were 

articles  of  111  r  *-*    •  i  •   i 

furniture.  candelabra  from  ytgma  which  cost  250,000  sesterces 

(about  $10,625).  Doubt- 
less Cicero  possessed  a 
table  of  citrus  wood  worth 
500,000  sesterces  (about 
$21,250).  But  these 
were  curiosities.  The 
possessors  of  these  ob- 
jects were  artists  or 
maniacs.  At  a  much 
less  cost  one  could  furnish 
his  house  suitably,  even 
richly.  It  seems,  accord- 
ing to  Martial,  that  about 

Expense  of          9  V  I  $4O,ooo    of    our    money 

furmshinga  J  wag    suffident    to     furnjsh 

a  large  house.  If  we 
remember  that  the  instal- 
lation of  the  Countess 
Kosel  in  the  Chateau  de 
Pillnitz  cost  $150,000  ;  if 
we  consider  that  the 
expense  of  furnishing  of 
the  Northumberland 
House  is  estimated  at 
several  hundred  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  we  shall 
conclude  that  the  mod- 

CANDELABRUM.  erns    have    progressed 

since  the  time  of    Martial,  and  that  our  nabobs  have 
outdone  the  patricians  of  ancient  Rome. 

Moreover,    we   must    not    forget    that    the   greatest 
private  fortunes  of  antiquity  never  equaled  those  of  our 


The  Roman  House.  79 

modern  Croesuses.  It  is  true  that  there  were  fools  and 
eccentric  individuals  like  the  Apiciuses,  the  Caligulas, 
and  the  Neros,  those  people  who  gave  themselves  up 
to  senseless  prodigalities,  which  Lucian  wittily  calls 
"the  solecisms  of  indulgence."  But  we  must  admit 
that  the  estate  of  the  richest  of  the  patricians  was  not 
large.  According  to  Marquardt,  the  greatest  income 
known  in  ancient  times  scarcely  exceeded  $1,215,000  of  Private 

*  incomes 

our  money.  What  is  that  compared  to  the  fortune  of 
Baron  Rothschild,  which  the  papers,  when  he  died  in 
1868,  valued  at  $400,000,000  ? 

Thus  private  wealth  at  Rome  never  had  the  propor- 
tions which  it  has  reached  in  our  modern  society.  Now 
the  Greek  artisans  and  oriental  merchants  sold  very 
dear  the  beautiful  objects  which  they  made,  while  the 
system  of  slavery  brought  down  the  price  of  manual 
labor  in  the  work  of  building.  This  explains  the 
splendor  of  the  buildings  and  the  plainness  of  the 
furnishings  in  a  Roman  house. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


The  origin  of 
slavery. 


The  condition 
of  a  slave. 


THE    SERVANTS. 

IN  our  day  domestics  have  been  called  ' '  household 
enemies."  The  epithet  unfortunately  applies  too  well, 
but  it  applied  still  better  to  the  slaves  of  ancient  times. 

The  source  of  slavery  is  known.  At  first  the  slave, 
as  is  indicated  by  the  etymology  of  the  Latin  word  for 
slave  servus  (serere,  to  bind),  was  a  prisoner  of  war. 
Hence  the  severity  of  the  legislation  to  which  he  is 
subjected.  He  is  regarded  as  a  thing.  His  master 
possesses  him  absolutely,  having  the  right  to  use  him  or 
to  abuse  him.  The  slave  has  nothing  of  his  own.  The 
savings  which  he  has  been  able  to  make  from  his 
peculium,  or  allowance,  usually  by  depriving  himself  of 
nourishment,  do  not  belong  to  him.  According  to  law, 
they  belong  to  his  master.  The  slave  cannot  marry  ; 
the  union  which  he  contracts  resembles  concubinage. 
He  cannot  make  a  will  ;  he  cannot  witness  in  a  court  of 
justice.  Is  he  ill-treated  by  his  master?  He  must 
keep  silent,  for  he  has  no  redress.  Insult,  dishonor, 
anything  he  must  bear  without  protest.  Has  not  his 
master  the  right  over  him  of  life  and  death  ? 

The  harshness  of  this  legislation  explains  certain  facts 
Cruelty  toward  which  appear  to  us  to-day  monstrous.  Seneca  tells  us 
how  a  certain  Vedius  ordered  a  slave  to  be  thrown  into 
the  fish-pond  as  food  for  the  muraenas  because  he  had 
broken  a  vase.  Nero's  father,  Domitius  Ahenobarbus, 
killed  his  freedmen  (freedmen  were  often  servants  to 
their  former  masters  and  liable  to  punishment  from 
them)  because  they  refused  to  drink  as  much  wine  as 


slaves. 


The  Servants.  8 1 


he  wished  them  to.  In  the  comedies  masters  never 
speak  to  their  slaves  without  threats  ;  they  have  at 
their  tongue's  end  a  whole  catalogue  of  instruments  of 
torture,  crucifixes,  whips,  hot  irons.  And  the  mis- 
tresses are  no  more  tender.  To  illustrate,  we  quote 
from  Juvenal's  Sixth  Satire.  A  lady  is  speaking. 

"  Go,  crucify  that  slave."     For  what  offense  ? 
Who  the  accuser  ?    Where  the  -evidence  ? 
For  when  the  life  of  man  is  in  debate, 
No  time  can  be  too  long,  no  care  too  great. 
Hear  all,  weigh  all  with  caution,  I  advise — 
"Thou  sniveler  !  is  a  slave  a  man?"  she  cries. 
"  He's  innocent !  be't  so ; — 'tis  my  command, 
My  will ;  let  that,  sir,  for  a  reason  stand." 

Slaves  were  sometimes  driven  to  extremities  by  these  The  vengeance 
cruelties,  and  took  terrible  revenge. 

The  horrid  barbarity  [writes  Pliny]  which  the  slaves  of 
Largius  Macedo,  a  person  of  praetorian  rank,  lately  exercised 
upon  their  master  is  so  extremely  tragical  that  it  deserves  to 
be  the  subject  of  something  more  considerable  than  a  private 
letter  ;  though  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  acknowledged 
there  was  a  haughtiness  and  severity  in  his  treatment  of  them 
which  showed  him  little  mindful  that  his  own  father  was  once 
in  the  same  station.  They  surrounded  him  as  he  was  bathing, 
at  his  villa  near  Formiae,  and  some  beat  him  about  the  face 
and  head,  while  others  trampled  upon  his  breast  and  his  belly ; 
when  they  imagined  they  had  thus  completed  their  intentions, 
they  threw  him  upon  the  burning  pavements  of  the  hot  bath, 
to  try  if  there  was  any  remaining  life  left  in  him. 

But  the  vengeance  of  slaves  always  cost  them  their 
lives.  Further,  when  a  master  was  assassinated  by  a  Its  pu»ishment. 
slave,  and  when  the  culprit  could  not  be  fixed  upon,  all 
the  slaves  who  dwelt  under  his  roof  were  executed. 
Thus  perished,  under  Nero,  the  four  hundred  slaves  of 
Pedanius  Secundus,  prefect  of  the  city.  Tacitus,  in 
the  fourteenth  book  of  his  "Annals,"  represents  the 


82  Roman  Life  in  Pliny  *  s   Time. 

senator  C.  Cassius  urging  their  execution  in  a  speech 
which  exhibits  with  striking  fidelity  the  cruelty  of  the 
ancient  prejudice  against  slaves  and  the  harshness  of  the 
inhuman  legislation  in  regard  to  them. 

But  war  early  ceased  to  be  the  only  origin  of  slavery, 
sources  of          The  citizen  who  had  undergone  civil  degradation  and 

slaves.  . 

the  insolvent  debtor  were  reduced  to  servitude.  Those 
who  were  born  of  slave  parents  were  slaves  themselves. 

Under  the  influence  of 
these  facts,  the  treatment 
of  slaves  became  milder 
than  the  laws,  and  gradu- 
ally the  laws  themselves 
were  modified. 

Cato  the  Old  was  cer- 
tainly a  faithful  repre- 
sentative of  the  ancient 
manners.  He  cannot  be 
reproached  with  being 
easily  moved  to  pity, 
and  the  lot  of  the  slave  awakened  no  feeling  within  him. 

mem' of  slaves.  ^  IS  necessary  [he  said]  to  sell  old  cattle,  old  wagons,  old 
iron  implements,  old  or  diseased  slaves — in  a  word,  whatever 
is  useless. 

He  did  not  pamper  his  slaves. 

As  a  relish  for  them  [he  said]  save  as  many  fallen  olives  as 
possible,  next,  those  olives  which  do  not  promise  to  give  much 
oil. 

We  know  what  kind  of  wine  he  would  have  them  drink. 

Pour  into  a  cask  six  amphorae  [the  amphora  was  a  measure 
of  six  gallons  and  seven  pints]  of  sweet  wine  and  two 
amphorae  of  very  sharp  vinegar.  Add  to  this  two  amphorae  of 
boiled  must  and  fifty  of  fresh  water.  Stir  the  whole  with  a 
stick  three  times  a  day  for  five  consecutive  days  ;  after  which 


The  Servants.  83 


mix  into  it  thirty-two  gallons  of  old  brine.  This  wine  will  last 
good  up  to  the  solstice.  If  any  is  left  over,  it  will  make  ex- 
cellent vinegar. 

He  exercised  as  much  economy  in  dressing  them  as  in 
feeding  them. 

Every  other  year  a  tunic,  three  and  a  half  feet  long,  and  a 
sagum  [coarse  blanket].  When  you  give  them  a  new  sagum 
or  tunic,  have  them  return  the  old  one,  as  it  will  do  to  make 
over  into  patchwork  garments.  Every  other  year  a  good  pair 
of  shoes. 

And  yet  this  master,  whose  heart  was  of  iron,  as  Livy 
says,  used  to  eat  and  drink  with  his  slaves,  and  had  his 
wife  take  care  of  them  when  they  were  sick. 

These   germs   of   humanity  developed    fast.     In  the  Development 
time  of  Augustus,   Horace  condemned  the  severity  of  humane  feeling 

.  11        •  ,  ,.  ,  .  ......        toward  slaves. 

Albucius,  who  did  not  pardon  a  single  fault  m  the 
slaves  who  served  him  at  table.  Augustus  also,  when  a 
wicked  man,  Hostius  Quadra,  had  been  killed  by  his 
slaves,  pretended  to  be  ignorant  of  the  crime,  for, 
although  he  aimed  to  observe  rigidly  the  laws,  he 
feared  he  would  offend  public  sentiment  if  he  prosecuted 
the  criminals.  Half  a  century  later,  when  the  slaves  of 
that  Pedanius  Secundus  of  whom  we  have  spoken 
above  were  punished  by  death,  the  military  forces  had 
to  be  called  out  to  prevent  the  people  from  snatching 
the  wretches  from  the  executioner. 

We  read,  also,  of  a  Roman  mother  who  having  lost  a 

.       .    ,  An  example. 

son  and  a  slave  of  the  same  age  had  them  buried  near 
each  other.  Their  sepulchers  were  side  by  side  and 
just  alike.  The  inscriptions  contained  nearly  the  same 
words.  Those  who  were  thus  united  in  death,  those  to 
whom  she  rendered  the  same  religious  rites,  must  have 
.been  loved  by  her  during  their  life. 

Philosophy   exerted   an   active   influence   in    amelio- 


84  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

rating  the  condition  of  slaves.  We  know  that  the 
Romans  had  very  little  taste  for  pure  speculation.  A 
doctrine,  in  their  eyes,  was  of  value  according  to  its 
practical  results.  They  did  not  enjoy  ideas  except  as 
they  could  be  translated  into  facts.  So  the  philoso- 
offlthence  phers  sought  to  improve  the  public  morals  by  direct 

philosophers.  means,  either  by  friendly  counsel  after  the  manner  of 
Seneca,  or  by  popular  preaching,  like  that  of  Dion 
Chrysostom.  They  had  especially  at  heart  the  welfare 
of  the  slave.  From  Cicero  to  Seneca  all  recommend 
to  masters  the  exercise  of  clemency  and  gentleness. 
Seneca  spoke  of  slaves  as  our  "humble  friends,"  and 
Juvenal,  who  in  more  than  one  passage  protests  against 
the  ferocious  caprices  of  the  great  nobles,  affirms  boldly 

that  slaves  have  powers, 
Sense,  feeling,  all,  as  exquisite  as  ours. 

These  ideas  and  these  sentiments  found  a  ready  wel- 
come in  the  soul  of  Pliny,  and  suggested  to  him  one  of 
his  most  beautiful  letters  : 

The  sickness  which  has  lately  run  through  my  family,  and 
Pliny's  kind-  carried  off  several  of  my  domestics,  some  of  them,  too,  in  the 
slave's*  h'S  prime  of  their  years,  has  deeply  afflicted  me.  I  have  two  con- 

solations, however,  which,  though  they  are  not  equal  to  so 
considerable  a  grief,  still  they  are  consolations.  One  is,  that 
as  I  have  always  very  readily  manumitted  my  slaves,  their 
death  does  not  seem  altogether  immature,  if  they  lived  long 
enough  to  receive  their  freedom  ;  the  other  that  I  have  allowed 
them  to  make  a  will,  which  I  observe  as  religiously  as  if  they 
were  legally  entitled  to  that  privilege.  I  receive  and  obey 
their  last  requests  as  so  many  authoritative  commands,  suffer- 
ing them  to  dispose  of  their  effects  to  whom  they  please  ;  with 
this  single  restriction,  that  they  leave  them  to  some  in  my 
family,  which  to  persons  in  their  station  is  to  be  esteemed  as  a 
sort  of  commonwealth. 

But  though  I  endeavor  to  acquiesce  under  these  reflections, 
yet  the  same  tenderness  which  led  me  to  show  them  these 


The  Servants. 


indulgences  still  breaks  out  and  overpowers  my  strongest 
resolutions.  However,  I  could  not  wish  to  be  insensible  to 
these  soft  impressions  of  humanity ;  though  the  generality  of 
the  world,  I  know,  look  upon  losses  of  this  kind  in  no  other 
view  than  as  a  diminution  of  their  property,  and  fancy  that  by 
cherishing  such  an  unfeeling  temper  they  discover  a  superior 
fortitude  and  good  sense.  Their  wisdom  and  self-control  I 
shall  not  dispute.  But  manly,  I  am  sure,  they  are  not ;  for  it 
is  the  very  criterion  of  true  manhood  to  feel  those  impressions 
of  sorrow  which  it  endeavors  to  resist ;  and  to  admit,  not  to  be 
above,  the  want  of  consolation.  But  perhaps  I  have  de- 
tained you  too  long  upon  this  subject — though  not  so  long  as  I 
would.  There  is  a  certain  pleasure  in  giving  vent  to  one's 
grief;  especially  when  we  pour  out  our  sorrow  in  the  bosom  of 
a  friend,  who  will  approve,  or  at  least  pardon,  our  tears. 
Farewell. 

Such  pages  prove  that  philosophic  instruction  could 
produce   happy  results.     In  fact,   beginning-  from   the   Laws  for  the 

,  .,  ,  .  _      .  protection  of 

empire,  philosophy,  and  particularly  the  Stoic  philoso-  slaves. 

phy,    inspired   the   Roman   lawmakers.     So,    from  the 

reign  of   Tiberius,  the 

Petronian  Law  forbade 

delivering  without  reason 

slaves  to  the  wild  beasts. 

An  old  custom  permitted 

the    exposure   of    sick 

slaves  upon  an  island  of 

the    Tiber   sacred  to 

^Esculapius.     There  they 

died  of  hunger  and  cold. 

Claudius  put   an  end   to 

this  barbarity.     Under 

Nero  slaves  could  go  to 

law.      "There  is  a   judge,"   Seneca   tells   us,    "before 

whom  slaves  may  relate  the  injuries  inflicted  upon  them 

by  their  masters." 


DOOR  KNOCKER. 


86 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny 's   Time. 


Difficulty  of 
enforcing  these 
laws. 


Slaves  pro- 
tected by  the 
self-interest  of 
masters. 


It  is  true,  they  might  seek  redress  "with  discretion, 
and  only  if  they  had  been  too  cruelly  beaten,  if  they 
had  been  compelled  to  suffer  from  hunger,  or  if  an 
attempt  had  been  made  upon  their  honor."  It  is  true, 
also,  that  such  complaints,  at  this  epoch,  could  have 
been  but  little  heeded,  since  the  magistrate  whose  duty 
it  was  to  listen  to  them  was  the  prefect  of  the  city,  that 
very  Pedanius  Secundus  who  was  assassinated  by  his 
slaves.  Nevertheless,  protective  measures  for  slaves 
had  been  started,  and  the  emperors  who  followed 
developed  them  still  further.  Hadrian  exiled  a  matron 
who  was  in  the  habit  of  cruelly  maltreating  her  slaves, 
under  the  most  trivial  provocations.  Antoninus  estab- 
lished the  principle  that  it  is  no  more  permissible  to 
kill  one's  own  slave  than  another's  slave,  and  he  made 
the  punishment  the  same  for  both  crimes.  Finally,  the 
progression  of  public  opinion  reached  the  point  at 
which  the  lawyer  Gaius  declared  that  slavery  was  con- 
trary to  natural  right. 

But  more  than  by  philosophy  or  by  law  the  slave  was 
protected  against  the  caprices  of  cruelty  by  his  master's 
self-interest.  According  to  M.  Boissier,  economy  was 
exercised  in  regard  to  slaves,  as  well  as  in  regard  to 
other  perishable  property  : 

Varro  takes  great  pains  to  instruct  his  farmer  to  employ,  in  a 
dangerous  piece  of  work,  work  in  the  marshes  for  instance, 
where  fatal  fevers  are  likely  to  be  contracted,  a  hired  laborer, 
rather  than  one  of  his  slaves.  If  the  hired  laborer  succumbs, 
it  is  his  own  misfortune.  When  a  slave  dies,  it  is  his  master's 
loss. 

Does  not  this  remind  us  of  La  Rochefoucauld's  maxim, 
"Self-interest,  which   we  accuse   of  all  our   misdeeds, 
deserves  often  to  be  praised  for  our  good  actions"  ? 
In  short,  it  seems  that  the  various  causes  which  we 


The  Servants, 


have  just  indicated  had  made  slavery  under  the  Anto- 
nines  a  supportable  condition,  although  it  was  always  a 
sad  one.     At  no  epoch  did  slavery  cease  to  be  a  plague- 
spot  in  the  Roman  civilization.      Ancient  society  carried 
thus    within    itself   a 
germ  of  destruction. 
But,    as   we    have 
shown,   the  evil  had 
its  alleviations.   And, 
moreover,     the    Ro- 
mans,   in    struggling 
against  it,  were  sup- 
ported  by   a    strong 
and  skilful  organiza- 
tion. 

Our  most  impor- 
tant magistrates  of 
to-day  do  not  live 
in  such  style  as  to 
give  us  any  idea  of 
the  large  attendance 
of  domestics  in  an 
elegant  house  at 
Rome.  Pliny  the 
Elder  narrates  that  Csecilius  Isodorus  said  in  his  will 
that  although  he  had  lost  much  in  the  civil  wars,  he  Large 

households 

left  4, 1 16  slaves.  Petromus  certainly  did  not  exagger-  of  slaves. 
ate  when  he  said  that  Trimalchio  did  not  know  by  sight 
one  tenth  of  his  slaves,  and  that  when  the  steward  of 
this  upstart  came  to  render  his  account  to  his  master 
one  day,  he  informed  him  that  during  the  night,  in  his 
estate  of  Cumae  alone,  thirty  boys  and  forty  girls  had 
been  born. 

We  naturally  wonder  why  the    Romans  should   be 


BRONZE  HAMES  ( HORSE  HARNESS). 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


Reasons  for 
their  existence. 


The  vast 
landed  estates. 


willing  to  undertake  the  burden  of  these  innumerable 
bodies  of  slaves.  There  is  only  one  explanation — the 
private  estates  were  of  vast  extent.  The  conquered 
territory,  which  was  rapidly  and  incessantly  augmented 
by  the  Roman  armies,  became  public  land.  This 
public  land,  when  not  sold  or  otherwise  disposed  of, 
was  allowed  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  private  individuals 
on  the  condition  that  they  should  work  it,  or  farm  it, 
giving  the  state  a  share  of  the  profits.  Such  an 
arrangement  as  this,  being  of  necessity  loosely  admin- 
istered, gave  an  opportunity,  first  to  patricians,  after- 
ward to  men  of  senatorial  rank,  and  to  rich  and  power- 
ful families,  to  accumulate  vast  tracts  of  land  which  they 
held  as  private  property. 

Thus    were    developed    those   large    landed   estates 

which,  according  to 
the  writers  of  the 
time,  were  the  ruin 
of  Italy.  Thus  a 
rich  man's  domains 
became  so  vast  that 
a  kite's  wings  would 
have  been  wearied 
in  flying  across  them. 
As  private  individuals 
possessed  veritable 
provinces,  they  need- 
ed, to  work  them, 
veritable  nations. 
But  many  people, 
who  were  not  forced  to  do  so  by  circumstances,  neverthe- 
less owned  many  slaves.  They  were  influenced  by  vanity 
to  imitate  the  great  nobles,  and  wished  to  appear  what 
they  could  not  be.  They  played  the  eternal  comedy : 


HORSE  BIT. 


The  Servants. 


Every  little  prince  ambassadors  must  send, 
Every  marquis,  too,  his  pages  must  attend. 

Women  have  more  of  a  taste  for  display  than  men,    Taste  for  dis- 
and  Juvenal  shows  how  the  women  of  his  time  were  true  ^omen™"8 
to  their  character : 

Whene'er  Ogulnia  to  the  circus  goes, 

To  emulate  the  rich,  she  hires  her  clothes, 

Hires  followers,  friends,  and  cushions  ;  hires  a  chair, 

A  nurse,  and  a  trim  girl,  with  golden  hair, 

To  slip  her  billets. 

Manias  quickly  become  necessities.  Accordingly 
the  middle-class  citizens  of  Rome  almost  always  had  a 
body  of  domestics  out  of  proportion  with  their  prop- 
erty. Scaurus  inherited  from  his  father  only  37,000 
sesterces  (about  $1,572.50),  yet  he  was  served  by  ten 
slaves.  It  is  natural  to  judge  from  appearances,  for 
this  is  the  easiest  and  quickest  way.  When  two  people 
met  upon  a  road,  the  one  who  had  the  fewer  attendants 
would  give  room  to  the  other.  Thus  the  respect  which 
was  a  man's  due  was  indicated  by  the  number  of 
servants  he  had  about  him.  A  magistrate  who  kept 
only  five  slaves  was  pointed  at  with  the  finger  of  scorn. 
If  a  lawyer  wished  to  attract  clients,  he  would  not 
succeed  if  he  relied  upon  eloquence.  He  must  rather 
appear  in  public  carried  in  a  sedan-chair  by  eight 
slaves,  and  have  a  troop  of  very  submissive  dependents 
following  him. 

We  see  that  slaves  very  often  became  a  heavy  burden   The  cost  of 
upon  their  masters.     To  support  this  burden  a  miracle  irapv^sning 
of  economy  would  have  been  required,  if  the  treatment 
of  domestics  in  ancient  times  had  been  anything  like 
the  treatment  which  they  receive  to-day.     A  character 
in  one  of  Labiche's  comedies  sums  up  the  requirements 
of  our  servants  : 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


The  price  of 
a  slave. 


-Cost  of  a 
slave's  food. 


A  householder's 
foresight. 


What  do  I  ask  ?  To  be  well  fed  ;  ...  to  be  well  paid  ; 
.  .  .  to  be  allowed  to  grow  fat  in  peace. 

These  are  modest  requirements  ;  many  of  our  serv- 
ants are  more  exacting,  and  we  have  to  yield  to  them. 
But  at  Rome  domestics  were  cheaper.  The  price  of 
an  ordinary  slave  was  about  $100,  which  would  be 
equivalent  to  the  payment  of  $5  a  year  as  wages.  His 
food  and  clothes  also  were  very  inexpensive.  Pliny 
said  that  when  he  received  his  freedmen  at  his  table,  he 
let  them  drink  the  same  wine  that  he  himself  drank. 
But  the  Roman  to  whom  he  gave  this  detail  appeared 
so  surprised  at  it  that  we  must  conclude  that  Pliny  was 
alone  in  his  generosity.  It  was  much  more  usual  for 
masters  to  keep  their  slaves  upon  the  diet  which  Cato 
recommended.  Seneca  seems  to  say  that  it  was  cus- 
tomary to  give  a  slave  every  month  five  bushels  of 
corn  and  five  denarii  (about  83  cents).  Calling  the 
price  of  a  bushel  of  corn  4  sesterces  (about  17  cents), 
that  would  make  the  total  expense  for  one  slave  about 
$1.68  a  month  —  a  modest  outlay,  especially  in  com- 
parison with  the  princely  salaries  which  we  allow  our 
cooks  and  coachmen.  Let  us  add  that  the  master  of  a 
well-ordered  Roman  house  bought  nothing  ;  his  own 
estate  was  supposed  to  furnish  him  the  commodities 
necessary  for  supporting  his  family,  and  his  city  house 
contained  artisans  of  every  trade. 

But  even  when  a  householder  was  not  burdened  with 
the  support  of  slaves,  he  had  enough  to  do.  In  order 
not  to  be  overtaken  by  want,  he  piled  up  provisions  of 
every  kind  in  immense  storehouses,  whose  contents  he 
could  not  always  remember.  It  is  related  that  at  the 
epoch  when  the  theater  tried,  like  the  theater  of  modern 
times,  to  draw  crowds  by  the  splendor  of  its  scenery,  a 
manager,  who  had  to  dress  a  large  number  of  his 


The  Servants.  91 


figurants  and  who  was  unwilling  to  go  to  great  expense, 
applied  to  Lucullus,  begging  him  for  the  loan  of  one 
hundred  tunics.  "One  hundred  tunics!"  replied  the 
rich  Roman.  "Where  do  you  expect  me  to  find  them? 
Nevertheless,  I  will  have  a  search  made."  The  next 
day  he  sent  the  manager  five  thousand  tunics.  The 
administration  of  these  immense  fortunes  must  have 
been  very  burdensome. 

When  a  master  had  provided  for  the  support  of  a  The  discipline 
vast  number  of  slaves,  he  was  not  rid  of  his  responsi-   ofslaves- 
bility.     He    had   to   organize   his   force,    form    it   into 
companies  like  an  army,  so  that  commands  might  be 
given  to  it  and  obedience  enforced,   and  so  that  each 
slave  might  have  an  employment  suited  to  his  ability 
and  strength. 

The  slaves  who  were  born  in  the  house,  the  verntz,  The  verna, 
as  they  were  called,  were  naturally  less  of  a  care  to  the 
master  than  the  others.  Their  fathers  had  had  a  trade, 
an  office  of  some  kind,  and  the  children  had  learned  to 
work  by  watching  them  at  their  tasks.  If  the  vernce 
were  destined  for  some  new  service,  there  was  plenty  of 
time  to  educate  or  to  train  them.  Moreover,  they 
were  easily  managed  ;  they  inherited  habits  of  servi- 
tude. They  almost  always  submitted,  they  were  often 
contented,  and  many  a  slave  was  proud  of  his  title 
of  Verna,  and  had  it  inscribed  upon  his  tombstone. 

There   was   greater   difficulty   with   slaves   that    had  Purchased 
been  purchased.     These  were  brought  from  the  market  slaves. 
where  they  had  been  exposed  on  a  platform,  their  feet 
whitened  with  chalk,   if  they  had  just  been  imported 
from  across  the  sea,  and  each  one  with  a  label  round 
his  neck  announcing  his  good  qualities  and  his  faults. 
But  it  is  not  to  be  supposed   that  these   labels  were 
always    truthful.     The    slave    merchants    had   a   well- 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


Out-door 
slaves. 


Their  toilsome 
labor. 


merited  reputation  for  bragging  and  falsifying.  Horace 
has  cleverly  described  one  of  these  shameless  rascals, 
and  we  may  well  believe  that  if  they  had  not  all  the  wit 
which  the  poet  ascribes  to  them,  they  were  not  lacking 
in  impudence  and  roguery. 

What  was  to  be  done  with  these  purchased  creatures, 
whose  masters  were  little,  if  at  all,  acquainted  with 
their  qualities?  After  a  sorting  process,  some  were 
sent  to  the  fields,  the  others  were  retained  for  the  city 
house. 

The  lot  of  the  former  was  by  no  means  enviable. 
They  were  treated  about  like  cattle.  At  night  they 
were  shut  up  in  buildings  no  better  than  stables — 
underground  prisons,  lighted  by  narrow  windows  placed 
so  high  above  the  floor  as  to  be  out  of  reach.  During 
the  day  they  had  to  work  alone.  For  fear  that  the 
open  air  and  free  space  might  suggest  flight  to  them, 
fetters  were  put  upon  their  feet.  For  some  this  treat- 
ment was  the  cause  of  great  suffering.  "No,"  said 
one  of  them,  "  I  have  often  seen  the  torments  of  hell 
represented  in  painting,  but  there  is  no  hell  more 
infernal  than  my  condition." 

The  labor,  besides,  which  they  were  compelled  to 
perform  was  always  extremely  toilsome.  They  had  to 
work  quarries,  to  clear  up  land  which  had  never  been 
under  cultivation,  to  prepare  irrigation  works,  to  con- 
struct the  causeways  or  the  roads  necessary  for  making 
a  piece  of  property  valuable.  And  yet  many  of  them 
were  contented  with  their  condition.  Horace's  valet, 
who,  to  speak  the  truth,  had  the  restless  disposition 
which  is  becoming  a  poet's  servant,  wished  to  leave  the 
city  and  to  be  employed  at  Tibur.  For  in  the  country 
a  slave  had  the  advantage  of  being  far  from  his  master. 
"When  one  works  in  a  distant  field  where  the  master 


The  Servants.  93 


rarely  comes,"  says  a  character  in  an  Atellan  of  Pom- 
ponius,  "  he  is  no  longer  servant  but  master. "  Besides, 
slaves  enjoyed,  without  doubt,  great  liberty  during  the 
festivals  when  they  were  allowed  to  gather  together.  Festivals. 
There  was  in  the  country  a  freedom  during  the  Palilia 
and  the  Saturnalia  which  the  police  of  the  city  would 
not  have  allowed.  Bonfires  were  lighted  everywhere  ; 
wine  flowed  in  abundance,  and  if  the  master  happened 
to  be  near,  full  of  the  tranquillity  and  the  gentle  kind- 
ness which  a  peaceful  country  life  fosters,  he  would 
retire,  without  doubt,  as  did  Pliny  the  Younger,  into 
some  secluded  room,  in  order  not  to  check  the  explo- 
sion of  joy  which  these  poor  creatures  exhibited  when 
left  to  themselves  unchained. 

The  slaves  reserved  for  the  city  house,  being  nearer  Houseslaves 
their  master,  had  more  to  suffer  from  his  caprices,  but 
also  they  had  a  better  opportunity  to  profit  from  them. 
Moreover,  being  relatively  more  numerous,  their  work 
was  less  laborious. 

Slaves  were  classified,  first,  according  to  their  nation-  classification 
ality  and  their  color.  The  Asiatics  were  musicians  or 
cooks  ;  from  Egypt  came  those  beautiful  children  whose 
mission  it  was  to  enliven  their  master  by  their  frolic- 
some humor.  The  Africans,  agile  and  strong,  ran 
before  his  sedan-chair  to  make  a  way  through  the 
crowd.  As  to  the  Germans,  with  their  great  bodies 
and  towering  height,  they  were  saved  for  the  gladia- 
torial show. 

But  thus  far  we  have  only  made  the  first  rough  classi-  Division  of 
fication  ;  for  the  division  of  labor  was  carried  to  a 
degree  that  is  difficult  for  us  to  realize.  There  were 
slaves  to  open  the  door  for  a  visitor,  others  to  show  him 
in,  others  to  hold  aside  the  hangings  before  him,  others 
to  announce  him.  A  man  had  slaves  to  whisper  in  his 


94  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

ear  the  names  of  those  whom  he  ought  to  recognize 
upon  the  street.  There  were  house-porters,  stewards, 
ushers,  cup-bearers,  bath-keepers,  sweepers,  etc.  The 
tomb  has  even  been  discovered  of  an  unfortunate  mortal 
whose  unique  duty  was  to  paint  the  aged  Livia.  May 
we  not  trust  that  this  office  was  a  sinecure  ? 

The  Romans  had  become  so  accustomed  to  let  their 

Literary  slaves  act  for  them  that  they  came  to  rely  upon  their 

slaves  also  to  think  for  them.  The  Roman  household 
was  a  machine  in  which  the  intellectual  faculties  of  the 
slaves  and  freedmen  belonged  to  their  masters,  and  in 
which  the  master  who  knew  how  to  govern  his  forces 
worked,  as  it  were,  with  an  infinite  multiplicity  of 
intellects.  Greece  furnished  in  abundance  learned  and 
literary  slaves,  who  read,  took  notes,  made  researches, 
prepared  material  for  authors.  It  has  been  thought 
that  Pliny  the  Elder's  "  Natural  History,"  that  encyclo- 
pedia of  antiquity,  was  written  with  such  assistance 
from  slaves.  Quintilian  said  that  Seneca  had  often 
been  led  into  error  by  the  false  information  of  those 
who  had  been  directed  to  make  researches  for  him, 
and  he  evidently  refers  to  slaves  and  freedmen.  Not 
only  did  the  Romans  have  slaves  for  secretaries,  they 

Prompters.  had  slaves  for  prompters.  The  story  of  Calvisius 
Sabinus  is  familiar.  He  was  ignorant  and  had  no 
memory.  But  he  required  one  of  his  slaves  to  learn  by 
heart  all  Homer,  another  Hesiod,  and  others  the  nine 
Greek  lyric  poets  included  in  the  Alexandrian  canon  ; 
and  when  he  gave  a  dinner,  he  had  them  crouch  at  his 
feet  under  the  table  and  furnish  him  with  such  quota- 
tions as  the  occasion  might  suggest  to  a  learned  and 
witty  man,  and  these  he  repeated,  often  with  absurd 
mistakes.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  incur  expense.  Each 
one  of  these  prompters  cost  100,000  sesterces,  or  about 


The  Servants.  95 


$4,250.  A  man  who  could  afford  it  would  let  slip  no 
opportunity  for  getting  possession  of  such  valuable 
assistants,  whether  he  wished  to  use  them  himself  or  to 
trade  them  off.  They  were  articles  of  luxury,  and  they 
sold  easily,  literary  vanity  being  quite  in  the  style. 
There  was,  then,  in  connection  with  every  well- 
appointed  house,  a  department  where  a  complete  course  Slave-schools, 
of  study  was  provided  for  slaves.  The  ancient  inscrip- 
tions make  frequent  mention  of  these  slave-schools. 

When  each  slave  had  had  his  special  duty  assigned  The  organiza- 
to  him,  the  next  step  was  to  establish  a  system  of  ofsiaves. 
discipline.  It  is  at  this  point  that  the  Romans  dis- 
played their  genius  for  organization.  The  slaves  were 
divided  into  groups  of  ten,  and  each  group  was  com- 
manded by  a  decurion.  The  decurions,  again,  were 
under  the  authority,  in  the  country,  of  the  farmer,  and 
in  the  city,  of  the  steward.  The  farmer  and  the  stew- 
ard had  to  render  each  day  an  account  of  their  adminis- 
tration to  the  master,  or  to  the  one  whom  he  deputed 
in  his  place.  This  organization,  which  required  certain 
slaves  to  assist  in  the  government  of  the  house  and 
interested  them  in  its  management,  this  division  of  the 
domestic  force  into  little  groups,  which  gave  to  the 
decurions  authority  over  their  companions,  without 
interfering  with  the  supremacy  of  the  master,  this 
incessant  oversight  rendered  the  administration  of  a 
vast  household  possible,  if  not  easy,  and  afforded  an 
excellent  training  to  those  great  optimates  who  were  to 
play  one  day  a  public  role. 

The  country  slaves  had  their  festivals,  and  the  city  Recreations  Of 
slaves,    occupied    by   tasks   which   were,    as   we    have  slaves- 
shown,   so   narrowly  circumscribed,    would   have   been 
indeed  subjects  for  pity  if  they  had  not  enjoyed  now 
and  then  a  few  hours  of  pleasure.      Their  Saturnalia, 


96  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

boisterous  without  doubt,  were  nevertheless  held  more 

closely  within   bounds   than   the   same   festival    in  the 

country.     But  the  city  slaves  made  up  for  this  restric- 

Amusements       tion  by  many  minor  pleasures.      Horace  gives  us  an 

of  uneducated  *  J 

slaves.  i(jea   of   the    amusements   which    occupied    the   leisure 

moments  of  those  of  somewhat  low  taste.  They  used 
to  take  long  strolls  through  the  busy  streets  of  the 
capital,  stand  in  front  of  the  pictures  done  in  charcoal  or 
red  chalk,  which  adorned  the  white  walls  of  the  build- 
ings, gossip  at  the  public  baths,  while  waiting  for  their 
masters,  or  loiter  in  the  low  corner  tavern,  where  some 
girl  played  the  flute,  while  the  clowns  danced  to  her 
noisy  music.  Sometimes,  too,  huddled  together  on  the 
highest  seat  of  an  amphitheater,  they  would  become  so 
absorbed  in  the  games  as  not  to  notice  the  loud  voice  of 
the  vender  as  he  went  about  crying  that  his  cakes  were 
hot  from  the  oven. 

The  more  cultured  slaves  found  pleasure  in  their 
master's  society,  and  liked  to  take  part  in  his  life  with- 

Influenceof  .  J  *        t  \ 

slaves  over         out  his  suspecting  it,  to  exert  a  quiet  influence  among 

their  masters.  .  .  . 

the  members  of  his  household,  to  make  himself  indis- 
pensable— in  short,  to  rule.  With  a  good  master  this 
was  not  difficult.  Pliny  ingenuously  confesses  that  he 
did  not  always  wield  undisputed  authority  in  his  own 
house,  and  that  he  had  to  call  upon  his  mother-in-law 
to  support  him  : 

The  elegant  accommodations  which  are  to  be  found  at 
Narnia,  Ocriculum,  Carsola,  Perusia,  and  particularly  the 
pretty  bath  at  Narnia,  I  am  extremely  well  acquainted  with. 
The  truth  is,  I  have  a  property  in  everything  which  belongs  to 
you  ;.and  I  know  of  no  other  difference  between  your  house 
and  my  own,  than  that  I  am  more  carefully  attended  in  the 
former  than  in  the  latter.  You  may,  perhaps,  have  occasion 
to  make  the  same  observation  in  your  turn,  whenever  you 
shall  give  me  your  company  here  ;  which  I  wish  for,  not  only 


The  Servants. 


97 


that  you  may  partake  of  mine  with  the  same  ease  and  freedom 

that  I  do  of  yours,  but  to  awaken  the  industry  of  my  domes-   Pliny's  indul- 

tics,  who  are  grown  something  careless  in  their  attendance 

upon  me.     A  long  course  of  mild  treatment  is  apt  to  wear 

out  the  impressions  of  awe  in  servants  ;  whereas  new  faces 

quicken  their  diligence,  as  they  are  generally  more  inclined  to 

please  their  master  by  attention  to  his  guest  than  to  himself. 

Farewell. 

But  the  slaves  would  often  succeed  in  securing  their 
ends,  even  with  masters  who  had  not  the  indulgent  and 
kind  spirit  of 
Pliny,  and 
many  a  Caesar, 
who  held  the 
world  in  terror, 
was  himself 
governed  by 
one  of  these 
obscure  per- 
sons, whose 
power  was  all 
the  greater  and 
more  formid- 
able because  it 
was  concealed. 

Having  tried 
to  show  the  re- 
lation of  slaves 
with  their  mas- 


ters, it  remains 


HEATER.    Naples. 


for  us  to  indicate  the  feelings  that  existed  among  the   Relations  be- 

...  .        .  .  ..          tween  slaves. 

slaves  themselves,  and  this  is  not  the  least  interesting 
part  of  our  task. 

If  the  reader  remembers  what  we  have  said  of  the 
organization  of  the  domestics  in  a  Roman  house,  of  the 


98  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

sUv^s0  among  system  of  government  which  was  practiced,  he  will  have 
no  trouble  in  seeing  that  hatred  and  rivalry  among 
slaves  must  have  been  frequent.  Accusations,  of  course, 
were  often  made,  and  masters  had  no  need  of  encour- 
aging them.  But  frequently,  also,  their  community  of 

betwle^s^ves  suffering  drew  the  slaves  into  sympathy  with  each 
other,  and  made  them  form  strong  friendships.  Upon 
the  tomb  of  one  of  his  friends,  a  freedman  once  had  the 
following  inscription  engraved  : 

Between  us  two,  my  dear  comrade,  no  difference  ever  arose ; 
I  call  upon  the  gods  of  Heaven  and  Hades  to  witness  the 
truth  of  this  statement !  We  were  made  slaves  at  the  same 
time,  we  served  in  the  same  house,  we  were  freed  together, 
and  this  day,  which  has  taken  thee  away  from  me,  is  the  first 
which  has  separated  us. 

These  friendly  relations  were   not  limited  to  a  few 
Associations       individuals.      In  a  rich  man's  house  associations  were 

among  slaves. 

formed  among  the  slaves — colleges  (colleges),  to  use  the 
Roman  word — whose  members  were  regularly  assessed 
to  meet  the  common  expenses.  Sometimes  all  the 
slaves  of  a  house  would  assemble,  like  the  people  in 
the  forum,  to  vote,  after  solemn  deliberation,  some 
recompense  to  the  one  in  command  over  them.  If 
they  were  satisfied  with  him,  they  would  join  in  erecting 
a  monument  to  him  to  thank  him  for  having  exercised 
his  authority  with  moderation.  Sometimes,  on  such  occa- 
sions, they  would  imitate  very  successfully  the  official 
style,  and  express  themselves  as  follows  :  "  The  dining- 
room  slaves,  in  token  of  the  services  and  the  kindness 
of  Aurelia  Crescentina,  have  decreed  a  statue  in  her 
honor."  Does  it  not  sound  like  a  decree  of  the  senate? 
Liberty  is  such  a  beautiful  thing  that  these  poor  people, 
who  had  lost  it,  or  had  never  known  it,  found  a  sweet 
delight  even  in  imitating  its  forms  and  its  language. 


The  Servants. 


99 


The  law  refused  a  slave  the  privilege  of  having  a 
family.  Marriage,  with  its  resulting  civic  rights  and 
its  moral  character,  was  reserved  for  the  free  man. 
But  when  the  law  is  in  such  manifest  contradiction  to 
nature  it  has  no  effect  ;  it  remains  a  dead  letter.  That 
is  what  happened  at  Rome.  The  slaves  intermarried, 
and  the  lawyers,  by  pronouncing  their  unions  mere 
concubinage,  could  not  prevent-  the  slaves  themselves 
from  regarding  them  seriously.  The  slaves  had  no 
scruples  against  appropriating  the 
titles  husband  and  wife,  a  privilege  . 
which  the  free  man  claimed  exclu- 
sively for  himself.  Some  of  them 
imitated  the  style  of  the  inscriptions 
placed  upon  the  tombs  of  the  women 
of  noble  family,  and  in  praising  a 
wife  did  not  hesitate  to  apply  to  her 
the  adjective  "incomparable." 
They  also,  and  with  more  sincerity 
perhaps  than  their  masters,  would 
speak  of  eternal  regret,  and  refer 
with  sorrowful  pride  to  a  union 
which  no  storm  had  ever  troubled 
and  which  had  never  brought  them 
any  pain  except  in  the  death  of  the 
loved  one.  These  marriages,  freely 
contracted,  in  which  only  mutual 
liking  was  consulted,  in  which  ques- 
tions of  birth  never  had  weight  and 
money  considerations  very  seldom, 
were  likely  to  be  happy  marriages. 
But  sometimes,  also,  slaves  would 
not  wait  for  true  affection  to  come 
before  concluding  a  marriage,  but  KEY. 


ioo  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

would  obey  a  mere  caprice.     Such  caprices  were  not 
matrimonial       always  regulated  according  to  our  notions  of  propriety, 
combinations.     Sometimes,  instead  of  a  union  of  two,  a  union  of  three 
was  established.     Plautus,    in   his    ' '  Stichus, ' '    has  de- 
scribed one  of  these  singular  combinations,  where  per- 
fect harmony  reigned,  as  the  following  song  of  one  of 
the  husbands  shows  : 

We  love  the  same  girl, 

And  we  ne'er  disagree. 
No  envy  we  know. 

Funny  rivals  are  we  ! 
We  live  in  accord, 

And  we  drink  from  one  bowl, 
Yet  we  love  the  same  girl ! 

Oh,  is  knot  droll? 

The  reader  may  be  tempted  to  think  that  we  have 
here  the  mere  wild  fancy  of  a  comic  poet,  which  his 
bold  gaiety  allowed  him.  But  no  ;  graveyard  inscrip- 
tions, which  of  course  are  not  humorous,  show  us  that 
there  were  instances  in  which  two  husbands,  at  the 
death  of  their  common  wife,  joined  in  mourning  her — 
and  in  erecting  her  tombstone.  Plautus  has  not  im- 
posed upon  us.  The  reality  was  far  more  bizarre  than 
the  inventions  of  the  poet.  A  slave  whose  wife  was  his 
sister  mentions  the  fact  in  an  inscription,  as  if  it  was  the 
most  natural  thing  in  the  world. 

Fortunately,    however,    instances   of   this   kind    must 

Wholesome  ,  ,  ,  •»«•••  1      r 

influence  of        have  been  somewhat  rare.      Marriage,   in  general,    far 

marriage  ,  i  •  i  i  iiirr  r    • 

among  slaves,  from  depraving  the  slave,  had  the  eftect  of  improving 
his  morality,  and  was  therefore  encouraged  by  masters. 
Moreover,  it  was  a  means  of  attaching  the  slave  to  the . 
house,  of  removing  the  temptation  to  escape.  The 
children  born  from  slaves  were  valuable  property  ;  and 
Cato,  who  was  a  practical  man,  conceived  the  idea  of 


The  Servants,  101 


selling  to  his  slaves  the  right  of  marrying.     This  was 

making  them  pay  for  the  privilege  of  enriching  him.    Masters  encour- 

r    •  .  r  age  marriage 

Masters,  then,  willingly  presided  over  the  marriages  of  among  their 
slaves,  and  attended  their  noisy  celebrations,  perhaps 
even  paying  for  them.  These  customs  became  so  well 
established  that,  under  the  empire,  marriages  among 
slaves  obtained  a  sort  of  legal  recognition,  and  the 
jurist  Paulus,  who  lived  under  the  emperor  Alexander 
Severus,  allowed  that  a  slave  might  legally  apply  the 
term  "wife"  to  the  mother  of  his  children,  a  privilege 
which  earlier  jurists  had  refused. 

Thus,  as  the  plebeians  formerly  had  acquired,  in 
spite  of  the  law,  the  power  to  conclude  valid  marriages 
with  the  patricians,  so  now  slaves  succeeded  in  getting 
their  marriages  with  each  other  legalized.  They  were 
no  longer  denied  the  consolation  of  remembering  those 
who  had  given  them  life,  and  the  joy  of  anticipating  the 
future  of  those  who  had  received  life  from  them.  Often, 
it  is  true,  this  joy  was  mingled  with  much  bitterness. 
Was  not  the  future  full  of  dark  uncertainty?  Was  it  Dangers  to 

...  '1-1  which  a  slave 

not  in  the  power  of  their  master  to  take  away  their  dear  family  was 
children?  Was  not  the  life,  and  above  all  the  honor, 
of  their  children,  at  the  mercy  of  his  caprice?  What 
would  become  of  this  little  girl,  who  was  growing  up 
full  of  grace  ?  Might  she  not  please  her  lord  too  well  ? 
And  this  young  boy,  handsome  and  strong,  might  he 
not  become  the  victim  of  those  hideous  passions  which 
the  morals  of  the  ancients  regarded  with  too  little 
severity?  Even  the  true  happiness  of  the  children 
sometimes  cost  the  tears  of  the  parents.  The  children 
might  be  freed,  and  that  meant  separation.  A  master 
might  marry  the  daughter  of  a  slave,  and  in  that  case 
he  naturally  would  not  allow  her  to  visit  her  parents. 
In  spite  of  so  many  fears,  in  spite  of  so  many  anxieties 


IO2 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


The 
siou 


manumis- 
of  slaves. 


Modestus. 


for  the  future,  the  desire  for  a  family  is  so  natural  and 
so  profound  that  slaves  were  not  deterred  from  marriage 
by  the  thought  of  the  possible  consequences.  This 
praiseworthy  perseverance  began  to  reap  its  reward 
when  a  law  of  Constantine  forbade  separating  the  mem- 
bers of  a  slave  family,  even  by  an  act  of  manumission. 

The  time  has  come  to  speak  of  the  important  act 
which  gave  to  the  slave  the  liberty  which  he  had  never 
known,  or  restored  to  him  the  liberty  which  had  been 
taken  from  him.  Reinach  has  given  the  following 
brief  but  complete  description  of  the  bestowal  of  free- 
dom upon  a  slave : 

Manumission  [he  says]  might  be  effected  without  formali- 
ties, but  in  case  a  regular  form  was  observed,  the  slave  was 
released  in  one  of  the  three  following  ways  :  ist.  By  vindicta, 
the  Latin  word  for  staff.  This  was  a  ceremony  in  which  a 
third  party,  who  must  be  a  Roman  citizen,  touched  the  slave 
with  a  staff  in  the  presence  of  a  magistrate  and  of  the  master. 
The  master,  who  was  holding  the  slave,  let  him  go,  and  the 
magistrate  pronounced  him  free.  ad.  By  census,  when  the 
master  had  the  slave's  name  inscribed  by  the  censor  upon  the 
list  of  citizens.  3d.  By  will,  or  even  by  a  wish  expressed  for 
the  heir  to  carry  out. 

It  was  probably  this  last  method  that  Sabina  used  in 
the  case  of  her  slave  Modestus,  but  she  had  neglected 
to  state  formally  her  desire.  Fortunately,  she  had 
made  Pliny  the  Younger  one  of  her  legatees,  and  he 
chose  to  respect  the  intentions  of  her  will  rather  than 
hold  strictly  to  its  letter.  We  cannot  deny  ourselves 
the  pleasure  of  quoting  the  letter,  in  which  Pliny  tells 
us  how  he  adopts  a  course  upon  this  occasion  which 
does  honor  to  his  character. 

Your  letter  informs  me  that  Sabina,  who  appointed  you  and 
me  her  heirs,  though  she  has  nowhere  expressly  directed  that 
Modestus  shall  have  his  freedom,  yet  has  left  him  a  legacy  in 


The  Servants.  103 


the  following   words:    "I  give,  etc. — to   Modestus,   whom   I 

have  ordered  to  be  made  free";   upon  which  you  desire  my   Pliny's  decision 

sentiments.     I  have  consulted  upon    this  occasion  with  the    Moci!stuseof 

most  learned  lawyers,  and  they  all  agree   Modestus  is  not 

entitled  to  •  his  liberty,  since  it  is  not  expressly  given,  and 

consequently  that  the  legacy  is  void,  as  being  devised  to  a 

slave.     But  it  appears  plainly  to  be  a  mistake  in  the  testatrix  ; 

and  therefore  I  think  \ve  ought  to  act  in  this  case  as  if  Sabina 

had  directed  in  so  many  words  what  it  is  clear  she  imagined 

she  had.     I  am   persuaded  you  will  join   with  me  in  these 

sentiments,  since  you  so   religiously  regard  the  will  of  the 

dead  ;  which  indeed,  where  it  can  be  discovered,  will  always 

be  law  to  an  honest  mind.     Honor  is  to  you  and  me  as  strong 

an  obligation  as   necessity  to  others.     Let    Modestus,    then, 

enjoy  hi's  freedom  and  his  legacy  in  as  full  a  manner  as  if 

Sabina  had  observed  all  the  requisite  forms  ;  as  indeed  they 

effectually  do  who  choose  their  heirs  with  discretion. 

Emancipation  gave  to  the  slave  the  rights  of  a  citizen,    The  f. 
but  up  to  the  time  of  Augustus  freed  people  could  not  freedmen. 
contract  marriage  with  those  of  free  birth.     They  were 
also    excluded    from    military    service,    and    were    not 
eligible  to  office.     Moreover,  they  were  under  certain 
obligations    toward    their    liberator.     They   could    not 
bring  an  action   against    him,    nor  witness  to  his   dis- 
advantage. 

The  law  Junia  Norbana,  of  uncertain  date,  perhaps 
belonging  to  the  time  of  Tiberius,  divided  freedmen 
into  two  classes,  citizens  and  Latins.  The  former 
enjoyed  full  liberty,  the  latter  a  more  incomplete 
liberty  and  the  rights  only  of  Latin  colonists.  But 
history  shows  us  that  the  tendency  of  Roman  legis- 
lation was  toward  unity,  and  we  find  under  Justinian  all 
freedmen  raised  to  the  same  rank.  This  emperor  con- 
ferred upon  them  all  the  rights  of  freeborn  citizens. 

By  what  means  could  a  slave  succeed  in  escaping  How  freedom 
from  servitude?     How  could  he  win  the  privilege  of  might  be  won. 


IO4 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Conditions  re- 
quired by  the 
law. 


The  purchase 
of  freedom. 


putting  on   that   Phrygian  cap  which  was  the  sign  of 
freedom  ? 

He  was  obliged  first  to  fulfil  certain  conditions  re- 
quired by  the  law.  Up  to  the  end  of  the  empire  a 
master  could  not  give  freedom  to  a  slave  under  thirty, 
nor  to  one  who  had  suffered  during  his  slavery  any 
ignominious  punishment.  The  law  indicated  also  the 
cases  in  which  a  slave  could  claim  freedom.  A  slave 
who  had  been  exposed  sick  on  the  island  in  the  Tiber 
sacred  to  ^Esculapius,  and  who  recovered,  also  a  slave 


COOKING  UTENSILS. 

who  had  informed  against  certain  criminals,  were 
thenceforth  free.  Slaves  were  also  allowed  to  buy 
their  freedom  from  their  masters  with  their  savings. 

But  most  emancipations  were  the  result  of  a  master's 
willingness  to  give  freedom.  When  a  slave  had  ren- 
dered his  master  some  extraordinary  service,  or  had 
succeeded  in  winning  his  master's  favor  by  his  agree- 
able ways,  he  might  hope  to  be  led  before  the  praetor 
and  to  be  touched  by  the  liberating  staff.  Those  who 
belonged  to  the  higher  class  of  slaves,  who  had  literary 


The  Servants.  105 


culture,  were  more  likely  than  others  to  be  presented 
with  their  liberty,  and  often,  after  becoming  freedmen, 
they  lived  in  intimacy  with  their  masters.      It  is  known   Friendships  be- 
that  Cicero  had  a  strong  friendship  with  his  freedman   a^d^re'edmen5 
Tiro,    and   Pliny  the  Younger  shows  in  the  following 
letter  that  he  had  no  less  affection  for  Zosimus  : 

As  I  know  the  humanity  with  which  you  treat  your  own 
servants,  I  do  not  scruple  to  confess  to  you  the  indulgence  I 
show  to  mine.  I  have  ever  in  my  mind  Homer's  character  of 
Ulysses, 

"Who  ruled  his  people  with  a  father's  love." 
And  the  very  expression  in  our  language  for  the  head  of  a 
family  [pater  familiar,  father  of  a  family]  suggests  the  rule  of 
one's  conduct  toward  it.  But  were  I  naturally  of  a  rough  and 
hardened  cast  of  temper,  the  ill  state  of  health  of  my  freed- 
man Zosimus  ( who  has  the  stronger  claim  to  a  humane  treat- 
ment at  my  hands,  as  he  now  stands  much  in  need  of  it) 
would  be  sufficient  to  soften  me.  He  is  a  person  of  great 
worth,  diligent  in  his  services,  and  well  skilled  in  literature  ; 
but  his  chief  talent,  and  indeed  his  profession,  is  that  of  a  Of  Zosimus. 
comedian,  wherein  he  highly  excels.  He  speaks  with  great 
emphasis,  judgment,  propriety,  and  gracefulness  ;  he  has  a 
very  good  hand,  too,  upon  the  lyre,  which  he  understands 
better  than  is  necessary  for  one  of  his  profession.  To  this  I 
must  add,  he  reads  history,  oratory,  and  poetry  as  well  as  if 
he  had  singly  applied  himself  to  that  art.  I  am  thus  particular 
in  enumerating  his  qualifications  that  you  may  see  how  many 
agreeable  services  I  receive  from  him.  He  is  indeed  endeared 
to  me  by  the  ties  of  a  long  affection,  which  seems  to  be 
heightened  by  the  danger  he  is  now  in.  For  nature  has  so 
formed  our  hearts  that  nothing  contributes  more  to  raise  and 
inflame  our  inclination  for  any  enjoyment  than  the  apprehen- 
sion of  being  deprived  of  it — a  sentiment  which  Zosimus  has 
given  me  occasion  to  experience  more  than  once.  Some 
years  ago  he  strained  himself  so  much  by  too  vehement  an  His  jii- 
exertion  of  his  voice  that  he  spit  blood,  upon  which  account 
I  sent  him  into  Egypt ;  from  whence,  after  a  long  absence,  he 
lately  returned  with  great  benefit  to  his  health.  But  having 
again  exerted  himself  for  several  days  together  beyond  his 


io6 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Pliny's  care  of 
Zosimus. 


Contempt  for 
freedmen. 


The  degraded 
character  of 
freedmen. 


strength,  he  was  reminded  of  his  former  malady  by  a  slight 
return  of  his  cough  and  a  spitting  of  blood.  For  this  reason  I 
intend  to  send  him  to  your  farm  at  Forum-Julii,  which  I  have 
frequently  heard  you  mention  as  having  an  exceeding  fine 
air,  and  I  remember  your  recommending  the  milk  of  that 
place  as  very  good  in  disorders  of  this  nature.  I  beg  you 
would  give  directions  to  your  people  to  receive  him  into  your 
house  and  to  supply  him  with  what  he  shall  have  occasion  for ; 
which  will  not  be  much,  for  he  is  so  temperate  as  not  only  to 
abstain  from  delicacies,  but  even  to  deny  himself  the  neces- 
saries his  ill  state  of  health  requires.  I  shall  furnish  him 
toward  his  journey  with  what  will  be  sufficient  for  one  of  his 
abstemious  turn  who  is  coming  under  your  roof.  Farewell. 

But  the  stigmata  of  slavery  were  not  easily  effaced. 
Public  opinion  refused  to  place  these  newcomers  into 
civic  life  in  the  same  rank  with  those  who  had  always 
been  free.  We  know  that  the  enemies  of  Horace 
reproached  him  with  his  birth,  and  when,  long  after 
(178)  Pertinax,  who,  like  the  poet,  was  a  freedman's 
son,  succeeded,  by  his  military  achievements,  in  winning 
the  consulship,  people  did  not  fail  to  circulate  scornful 
remarks  about  his  humble  origin.  "Look,"  they 
would  say,  ' '  at  .the  results  of  cursed  war. ' ' 

It  is  not  hard  to  understand  this  feeling  of  contempt 
for  freedmen.  The  conditions  of  the  slave  and  of  the 
free  man  were  separated  by  barriers  so  wide  that  it 
was  not  easy  to  cross  them,  and  any  one  who  accom- 
plished this  feat  was  regarded  with  ill-will. 

But  we  must  confess  also  that  freedmen  often  fur- 
nished cause  for  this  prejudice  and  distrust.  They 
were  probably  not  responsible  for  the  degradation  in 
their  characters  produced  by  slavery.  Nevertheless, 
they  were  degraded,  although  they  were  not  to  blame 
for  it.  The  touch  of  the  praetor's  staff  was  not  the 
touch  of  a  fairy's  wand,  and  liberty  could  not  change 
them  completely  in  a  single  day. 


The  Servants.  107 


They  had  usually  received  mental  training  ;  but 
honor  is  not  learned  without  a  teacher.  So  they  were 
almost  all  of  an  equivocal  morality,  if  they  were  not 
notoriously  immoral. 

When  they  entered  civic  life  they  were  usually  with- 
out means,  and  they  lived  by  their  wits.  They  could 
not  afford  to  be  too  particular  about  the  choice  of  a ' llvlng- 
profession.  The  important  thing  was  to  make  a  living. 
No  pretense  of  an  occupation  would  do.  They  be- 
came trumpeters,  itinerant  musicians,  assistants  in 
funeral  obsequies,  barbers,  town-criers,  scavengers ; 
their  taste  was  not  very  delicate,  neither  was  their  con- 
science. They  swelled  the  number  of  legacy-hunters, 
false  witnesses,  and  brokers.  Active,  shrewd,  un- 
scrupulous, knights  of  industry,  convinced  that  busi- 
ness meant  other  people's  money,  they  often  quickly 
amassed  a  fortune.  And  then  they  exhibited  those 
vices  that  in  all  ages  come  with  a  sudden  elevation  of 
fortune.  Might  not  their  vices  of  to-day  afford  them 
some  compensation  for  yesterday's  repression?  Might  rhepresump- 
they  not  even  be  the  punishment  of  those  masters  from 
whom  they  had  been  learned — learned  almost  under 
compulsion?  Juvenal  has  drawn  several  striking  por- 
traits of  these  insolent  and  vain  rich  freedmen.  Let 
us  reproduce  one  of  them  : 

The  scene  is  the  open  space,  filled  with  people,  be- 
fore the  door  of  a  palace  whose  owner  is  distributing 
free  gifts  among  the  expectant  crowd.  We  see  a  patron 
and  his  clients.  A  dispute  has  arisen  in  the  crowd 
about  a  question  of  precedence. 

"Dispatch  the  Praetor  first,"  the  master  cries, 
"And  next  the  Tribune."     "  No,  not  so,"  replies 
The  Freedman,  bustling  through,  "first  come  is,  still, 
First  served  ;  and  I  may  claim  my  right,  and  will ! — 


men. 


io8 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny*  s   Time. 


The  freedman's 
claim  to  prece- 
dence. 


KEY. 


Though  born  a  slave  ('tis  bootless  to  deny 

What  these  bored  ears  betray  to  every  eye), 

On  my  own  rents,  in  splendor,  now  I  live, 

On  five  fair  freeholds  !     Can  the  purple  give 

Their  Honors  more  ?  when  to  Laurentum  sped, 

Noble  Corvinus  tends  a  flock  for  bread  ! — 

Pallas  and  the  Licinii,  in  estate, 

Must  yield  to  me  :  let,  then,  the  Tribunes  wait." 

Yes,  let  them  wait !  thine,  Riches,  be  the  field  ! — 

It  is  not  meet  that  he  to  Honor  yield, 

To  sacred  Honor,  who,  with  whitened  feet, 

Was  hawked  for  sale,  so  lately,  through  the  street. 

O  gold  !  though  Rome  beholds  no  altar's  flame, 

No  temples  rise  to  thy  pernicious  name, 

Yet  is  thy  full  divinity  confest, 

Thy  shrine  established  here,  in  every  breast. 

Petronius,  in  his  "Satiricon,"  has  depicted  the 
finished  type  of  those  freedmen,  who,  trying  to 
imitate  their  former  masters,  substitute  for  mag- 
nificence, display  ;  for  elegance,  affectation  ;  for 
pride,  insolence ;  and  for  rudeness,  vulgarity.  His 
Trimalchio,  at  the  same  time  that  he  makes  a  show 
of  his  riches,  tries  to  appear  a  lord.  He  even 
aspires  to  literature.  He  would  like  to  pass  for 
a  Maecenas,  for  a  patron  of  arts.  He  prides  him- 
self on  a  beautiful  passion  for  music.  So  he  has 
himself  served  at  table  to  the  sound  of  musical 
instruments,  and  his  valets  carve  in  rhythmic 
measure.  However,  in  his  sincere  moments,  he 
confesses  that,  as  to  artists,  he  cares  only  for  rope- 
dancers  and  cornet-players ;  thus  M.  Jourdain  pre- 
ferred to  everything  else  the  sound  of  the  trumpet 
marine. 

This  kind  of  upstart  was  only  ridiculous.  But 
the  more  intelligent  ones  became  often  formidable. 


The  Servants.  109 


Pliny    once   made   the   following  profound  observation   The  power  of 
about  the  Caesars  :    ' '  They  are  the  masters  of  the  citi-  free<fmen 
zens,  and  the  slaves  of  the  freedmen." 

What  motives  led  the  emperors  to  depend  so  largely 
upon  the  services  of  freedmen  ?  They  desired  to  im- 
press the  masses,  whose  temper  it  was  important  not  to 
irritate,  with  the  idea  that  the  imperial  court  was  not 
essentially  different  from  a  private  family.  Further- 
more, they  were  influenced  by  a  political  consideration 
which,  although  diametrically  opposed  to  this  affecta- 
tion of  simplicity,  is  not  inconsistent  with  it.  They 
tried,  by  employing  freedmen  in  places  of  honor,  to 
show  plainly  how  little  importance  they  attached  to  the 
differences  of  social  rank  ;  they  wished  to  make  it 
understood  that  they  had  adopted  a  system  of  leveling,  Sodal  leveling- 
and  thus  to  break  down  the  resistance  of  the  ancient 
patrician  class,  and  to  teach  all  that  the  imperial 
pleasure  was  the  source  of  every  honor,  that  it  could 
raise  a  man  from  the  humblest  condition  to  the  highest, 
and  that  before  it  all  the  subjects  of  the  empire  were 
equal. 

This  power  of  the  freedmen,  it  is  true,  was  checked 
under  the  Antonines  ;  for  Pliny  says  to  Trajan  :  ' '  You 
advise  them  to  keep  themselves  within  bounds. 
You  know  that  the  presumptuous  airs  of  the  freedmen 
make  the  prince  appear  insignificant."  But  this  power 
could  not  have  been  destroyed,  for  Pliny  adds,  "Be- 
sides, they  are  all  the  more  worthy  of  receiving  respect 
when  we  are  not  compelled  to  pay  it  to  them." 

The  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth  by  the  freedmen, 
their  sudden  attainment  of  political  elevation,  excited 
the  anger  and  surprise  of  the  Roman  citizens.  This 
explains  their  exclamations  of  wrath  against  freedmen  ; 
this  excuses  the  unjust  satires  of  Juvenal,  who,  misled 


no  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

by  a  feeling  of  hatred,  sometimes  makes  random  flings 
Juvenal's  bit-      at  them,  and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  reproach  them  for 

ter  expression 

against  freed-  gaining  their  livelihood  by  working.  He  represents 
his  friend  Umbritius,  who  is  on  the  point  of  leaving 
Rome,  as  saying  : 

Here,  then,  I  bid  my  much-loved  home  farewell — 
Ah,  mine  no  more  ! — there  let  Arturius  dwell, 
And  Catulus  ;  knaves,  who,  in  truth's  despite, 
Can  white  to  black  transform,  and  black  to  white. 

Now,  these  freedmen,  so  severely  condemned  by  the 
wrathful  Umbritius,  are  nothing  but  engineers,  manu- 
facturers, and  merchants  ;  for  he  continues  his  indignant 
strain  by  explaining  in  just  what  the  knavery  of  these 
knaves  consists.  They 

Build  temples,  furnish  funerals,  auctions  hold, 
Farm  rivers,  ports,  and  scour  the  drains  for  gold  ! 

But  let  us  not,  in  trying  to  understand  the  irritation 
Emancipation     o{  the  ancient  Romans  at  the  sight  of  the  rapid  ascent  of 

leads  to  democ-  \ 

these  men  who  started  from  so  low  a  position,  fail  to 
observe  one  of  the  greatest  facts  in  the  history  of  civili- 
zation. Emancipation  opened  the  avenues  for  true 
democracy.  We  owe  to  the  manumission  of  slaves  the 
gradual  disappearance  of  pernicious  prejudice,  of  the 
unjust  and  aristocratic  contempt  for  work,  commerce, 
and  industry.  And  as  the  breaking  down  of  one 
barrier  always  drags  along  another,  the  prosperity  of 
freedmen  resulted  at  last  in  the  abolition  of  slavery. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   TRANSACTION   OF   BUSINESS. 

THE    ancients    regarded    historical    composition    as 
belonging  to  the  realm  of  the  artistic  imagination.     A  Historical 

.  .  ,  .  .  TII  1  composition 

history  was  tor  them  a  beautitul  drama,  whose  scenes  among  the 
should  follow  each  other  in  a  style  of  sustained  eleva- 
tion of  oratorical  grandeur,  without  any  prosaic  inter- 
ruption. They  carefully  excluded  all  that  could  break 
this  unity  of  tone  or  destroy  this  harmony  of  color. 
Tacitus  illustrates  this  ancient  conception  of  history 
when,  instead  of  quoting  the  official  text,  which  he  had 
at  hand,  of  the  speech  delivered  by  the  emperor 
Claudius  in  favor  of  extending  to  Transalpine  Gaul  the 
right  of  admission  to  the  senate;  he  remodels  it,  and 
imbues  it  with  his  own  personality.  The  province  of 
history  was,  then,  among  the  ancients,  much  more 
limited  than  among  us.  They  attempted  to  describe 
only  the  most  attractive  aspects  of  the  society  in  which 
they  lived.  Consequently  they  have  told  us  almost 
nothing  about  questions  of  the  economic  order.  Since  Questions  of 
the  historians  neglected  this  subject,  can  we  not  go  to  not"reated°byer 
the  dramatic  writers  or  to  the  romancers  ?  They  would  l 
doubtless  be  a  valuable  source  of  information,  but, 
unfortunately,  the  comedies  which  represent  scenes 
from  the  lives  of  tradesmen  and  workmen — we  refer  to 
the  mimes  and  the  Atellans — have  been  lost,  and  the 
interesting  romance  of  Petronius,  which  depicts  the 
lives  of  the  uneducated  classes,  is  too  strongly  local  in 


ii2  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


color,  belonging  exclusively  to  the  south  of  Italy,  to  be 
serviceable  as  a  source  of  general  information.  To 
treat  the  commerce  of  antiquity  is  therefore  a  difficult 
undertaking.  In  fact,  nearly  all  our  knowledge  about 
it  is  derived  from  monumental  inscriptions.  Let  us  try 
to  sum  up  the  results  arrived  at  by  those  who  have 
devoted  their  time  to  research  in  this  subject. 

Scanty  as  our  information  is,  we  are  safe  in  affirming 
Commercial        that  commerce,    in   ancient    Rome,    never  reached  the 

inactivity  in  .    .  . 

ancient  Rome,  same  degree  of  activity  as  among  modern  nations. 
There  was  nothing  at  Rome  which  resembled  even 
faintly  the  rush  of  business  affairs  which  sweeps  along  in 
its  feverish  movement  the  men  of  the  present  time. 
When  we  consider  how  practical  the  Romans  were  we 
are  inclined  to  feel  much  surprise  that  commerce  among 
them  held  so  unimportant  a  place,  and  we  wonder  how 
it  could  have  been  so  dormant  in  an  atmosphere  which, 
at  first  thought,  seems  very  favorable  to  its  develop- 
ment. 

Some  have  sought  an   explanation   in  the  origin  of 

The  respect  felt   Rome.     The   first    settlers,    we   know,    were    farmers. 

for  agriculture.  .  t 

During  long  years  agriculture  was  the  principal  means 
of  existence  for  Italian  communities,  and  especially  for 
the  Latins.  The  beautiful  custom  of  beginning  the 
foundation  of  a  city  by  tracing  a  furrow  with  a  plow 
where  the  future  encircling  wall  was  to  stand,  proves 
how  profoundly  the  feeling  that  the  existence  of  cities 
depended  upon  agriculture  was  impressed  upon  all 
minds. 

So  agriculture  was  a  profession  eminently  honored  by 
the  ancient  Romans.  Listen  to  the  views  of  the  elder 
Cato  : 

When  our  forefathers  pronounced  the  eulogy  of  a  worthy 
man,  they  praised  him  as  a  worthy  farmer  and  a  worthy  land- 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  113 


lord ;  one  who  was  thus  commended  was  thought  to  have 
received  the  highest  praise.  The  merchant  I  deem  energetic 
and  diligent  in  the  pursuit  of  gain  ;  but  his  calling  is  too  much 
exposed  to  perils  and  mischances.  On  the  other  hand, 
farmers  furnish  the  bravest  men  and  the  ablest  soldiers  ;  no 
calling  is  so  honorable,  safe,  and  inoffensive  as  theirs,  and 
those  who  occupy  themselves  with  it  are  least  liable  to  evil 
thoughts. 

Nothing  is  better  than  to  praise  agriculture.  But, 
unfortunately,  the  respect  in  which  farming  was  held  otcommefce. 
was  offset  by  a  contempt  for  commercial  activity.  We 
learn  from  Livy  that  a  Claudian  law,  passed  at  the 
suggestion  of  Caius  Flaminius,  forbade  senators  and  the 
sons  of  senators  to  possess  ships,  except  for  the  trans- 
port of  the  products  of  their  own  estates,  and  probably 
also  forbade  them  to  engage  in  public  business  enter- 
prises ;  in  a  word,  excluded  them  from  all  that  the 
Romans  understood  as  speculation  or  trade.  There  is 
an  oft-quoted  passage  in  Cicero's  writings  which  has  a 
significant  bearing  upon  this  question.  In  his  treatise 
on  ' '  Duties, ' '  the  orator  distinguishes  between  liberal  servile  occu- 
and  servile  occupations  as  follows  : 

Those  callings  are  held  in  disesteem  that  come  into  collision 
with  the  ill-will  of  men,  as  that  of  tax-gatherers,  as  that  of 
usurers.  The  callings  of  hired  laborers,  and  of  all  who  are 
paid  for  their  mere  work  and  not  for  skill,  are  ungenteel  and 
vulgar  ;  for  their  wages  are  given  for  menial  service.  Those 
who  buy  to  sell  again  as  soon  as  they  can  are  to  be  accounted 
as  vulgar ;  for  they  can  make  no  profit  except  by  a  certain 
amount  of  falsehood,  and  nothing  is  meaner  than  falsehood. 
All  mechanics  are  engaged  in  vulgar  business  ;  for  a  workshop 
can  have  nothing  respectable  about  it.  Least  of  all  can  we 
speak  well  of  the  trades  that  minister  to  sensual  pleasures — 

"Fishmongers,  butchers,  cooks,  poulterers,  and  fishermen," 

as  Terence  says.  .  .  .  The  professions  which  require 
greater  skill,  and  are  of  no  small  profit  to  the  community, 


ii4  Roman  Life  in  Pliny s   Time. 

such  as  medicine,  architecture,  the  instruction  of  youth  in 
liberal  studies,  are  respectable  for  those  whose  rank  they  suit. 
Commerce,  if  on  a  small  scale,  is  to  be  regarded  as  vulgar  ; 
but  if  large  and  rich,  importing  much  from  all  quarters,  and 
making  extensive  sales  without  fraud,  it  is  not  so  very  dis- 
creditable. Nay,  it  may  justly  claim  the  highest  regard,  if  the 
merchant,  satiated,  or  rather  contented  with  his  profits,  instead 
of  any  longer  leaving  the  sea  for  a  port,  betakes  himself  from 
Agriculture  the  ^e  Port  *tse^  to  an  estate  in  the  country.  But  of  all  means  of 
noblest  occu-  acquiring  gain  nothing  is  better  than  agriculture,  nothing  more 
productive,  nothing  more  pleasant,  nothing  more  worthy  of  a 
man  of  liberal  mind. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  Cicero,  Juvenal 
expresses  the  same  ideas.  It  was  considered  in  his 
time  less  unbecoming  for  a  free  man  to  go  and  beg  for 
the  sportula  (gifts  of  money  doled  out  by  a  patron  to 
his  clients)  than  to  engage  in  a  lucrative  employment. 
Have  we  not  still  retained  something  of  this  prejudice  ? 
Are  we  not  too  fond  of  the  liberal  professions,  which 
have  been  ironically  defined  as  ' '  those  which  allow  the 
least  liberty  and  bring  in  the  least  money"  ? 

This  contempt  for  commerce  was    probably  sincere 

with  some  of  the  great  nobles  and  literary  men  among 

the  Romans.     But  it  seems  to  us  that  it  was  more  often 

a  pretended  contempt,  assumed  by  those  who  wished  to 

appear  stylish  and  cultured.     At  bottom,  the  Romans, 

whom    Pliny    the    Elder    considered    so    devoted    to 

Mercantile          utility,  were  mercantile  in  spirit.     Cato,  who  expressed 

Romans!  *         his  mind  freely,  confesses,  in  the  practical  instructions 

which  he  prepared  for  his  son,  that  this  is  so. 

A  man  [he  says]  ought  to  increase  his  fortune.  And  the 
man  whose  account  books  prove  at  his  death  that  he  has 
gained  more  than  he  received  as  an  inheritance  is  worthy  of 
praise,  and  is  filled  with  a  divine  spirit. 

Let  us  not,   then,   look  for  the  cause  of  the  slight 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  115 

development  of  commerce  at  Rome  in  the  disdain  which 

people   boasted   for   the   merchant's   calling:   and   their  Absence  of  a 

middle  class. 

respect  for  agriculture  only.  The  true  explanation  is  to 
be  found  in  the  social  constitution  of  Rome.  From  an 
early  point  in  its  history  Rome  had  no  middle  class. 
The  small  farmers,  the  small  plebeian  property-holders, 
who  had  constituted  the  strength  of  the  city  in  the  first 
era  of  its  existence,  soon  disappeared.  In  fact,  how 
could  they  sustain  the  war  which  capital,  in  the  third  War  between 

ir  i  •  r  i         r  i-  r      i  ,       •>    capital  and 

and  fourth  centuries  after  the  founding  of  the  city,  had  labor. 

declared  against  labor  ?     For  war  it  certainly  was  when 

the  landowner,  who  never  worked,  took  away  from  the 

farmer,  under  the  pretext  that  it  was  the  interest  upon 

his  debts,   the  profit  coming  from  the  land  which  he 

toiled  to  cultivate.     These  ancient  citizens,  thus  driven 

out  of  agriculture,   which  had  become  a  burdensome 

profession  for  them,  would  doubtless  not  have  scorned 

trade  or  manufacture.     But  how  could  they  succeed  in 

either  ?     How  meet  the  formidable  competition  of  slave 

labor?     In  almost  every  branch  of  traffic  business  was  Slave  labor. 

•carried  on  by  slaves.     The  historian  Mommsen  says  : 

The  money-lenders  and  bankers  instituted,  throughout  the 
range  of  their  business,  additional  counting-houses  and  branch 
banks  under  the  direction  of  their  slaves  and  freedmen.  The 
company  which  had  leased  the  customs  duties  from  the  state 
appointed  chiefly  their  slaves  and  freedmen  to  levy  them  at 
each  custom-house.  Every  one  who  took  contracts  for  build- 
ings bought  architect-slaves ;  every  one  who  undertook  to 
provide  spectacles  or  gladiatorial  games  on  behalf  of  those  to 
whom  that  duty  pertained,  purchased  or  trained  a  company  of 
slaves  skilled  in  acting,  or  a  band  of  serfs  expert  in  the  trade 
of  fighting.  The  merchant  imported  his  wares  in  vessels  of 
his  own  under  the  charge  of  slaves  or  freedmen,  and  disposed 
of  them  by  the  same  means  in  wholesale  or  retail.  We  need 
hardly  add  that  the  working  of  mines  and  manufactories  was 
-conducted  entirely  by  slaves. 


n6  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

It  is  plain  that  to  engage  in  trade  without  a  large 
capital  was,  on  account  of  the  competition  of  slave 
labor,  disheartening  even  for  the  boldest  citizens. 
Moreover,  what  deterred  the  plebeians  more  than  any- 
thing else  from  such  an  enterprise  was  that  measures 
The  pauper-  had  been  adopted  to  render  it  unnecessary  for  them  to 

izmg  of  the  r  J 

people.  do  business.     What  was  the  use  of  working  when  one 

could  live  without  it  ? 

The  chiefs  of  the  democracy  [says  M.  Boissier,  in  his 
"Archaeological  Rambles"],  at  length  risen  to  power,  paid 
the  people  for  their  kindness  by  a  liberality  whose  conse- 
quences were  necessarily  fatal  to  the  republic.  C.  Gracchus 
caused  it  to  be  decided  that  henceforth  the  state  should 
undertake  partially  to  feed  the  poor  citizens.  Corn  tickets 
Corn  tickets.  were  distributed  to  them,  which  allowed  them  to  receive  corn 
at  half  price.  It  being  natural  not  to  stop  at  half  measures, 
some  time  after  the  Gracchi  it  occurred  to  another  dema- 
gogue to  give  it  for  nothing.  The  less  people  paid,  the  more 
the  number  increased  of  those  who  desired  to  enjoy  this  favor. 
When  Caesar  took  possession  of  the  supreme  power  their 
number  mounted  to  320,000. 

If  we  consider  how  temperate  the  people  of  the  South 
are,  and  how  few  their  needs,  and  if  we  bear  in  mind  that 
besides  these  gratuitous  distributions  which  the  masses 
received,  these  gifts  of  public  assistance,  clients  were 
given  presents  by  their  patrons,  and  that  the  people  sold 
to  candidates  for  office  the  support  of  their  votes,  we 
shall  understand  how  aptly  the  familiar  phrase,  ' '  a  com- 
monwealth composed  of  millionaires  and  of  beggars," 
applies  to  Rome  during  the  two  centuries  before  the 
The  masses  Christian  era.  This  condition  of  things  was  but  little 

become  beg-  _  . 

gars.  %  bettered   under  the   empire,   in  spite  ot  the  enorts  01 

some  of  the  princes  to  restrain  this  mendicity.  At  the 
death  of  Augustus  200,000  citizens  were  still  receiving 
corn  from  the  state.  This  enormous  disproportion  in 


The    Transaction  of  Business. 


117 


the  distribution  of  wealth,  these  premiums  awarded  to 
idleness,  constitute  in  our  opinion  the  true  cause  of  the 
stagnation  of  commerce  at  Rome. 

However  this  may  be,  commerce  did  exist,  and  it  is 
time  for  us  to  describe  it.  In  the  first  place,  commerce 
was  purely  passive,  and  consisted  in  importation.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  ?  Ruined  by  the  capitalization  of 
wealth,  by  the  encroachments  of  the  large  estates,  and 
by  the  civil  wars,  Italy  produced  nothing.  Pliny  the 
Elder  says  that 
on  the  peaceful 
waters  of  the 
Tiber  could  be 
seen  the  com- 
modities and 
the  merchandise 
of  the  whole 
world.  This  is 
not  an  exagger- 
ation. Rome 
was  the  vast 
emporium  for 
all  that  the 
world  pro- 
duced. It  absorbed  everything  and  returned  nothing. 
Look  at  the  picture  which  ^lius  Aristides  traced  in  the 
second  century  after  Christ  of  this  immense  bazaar  : 

Into  this  city  are  brought,  from  all  countries  and  from  all 
seas,  the  fruits  of  all  the  seasons  and  the  products  of  all 
lands,  rivers,  and  lakes  ;  and  whatever  is  created  by  the  skill 
of  the  Greeks  and  of  the  barbarians.  So  that  the  man  who 
wishes  to  view  all  these  things  must  either  travel  over  the 
whole  world  or  visit  this  city,  where  there  is  always  an  abund- 
ance of  whatever  is  grown  or  manufactured  among  all  nations. 
In  the  course  of  a  season  so  many  freighted  ships  come  into 


CUP. 


Importation. 


Rome  becomes 
a  vast  em- 
porium. 


Ii8  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

its  port  from  all  countries  that  a  person  there  might  almost 
Description  think  he  was  in  a  universal  manufactory.  So  many  cargoes 
Afristidesby  from  India  and  from  Araby  the  Blessed  are  to  be  seen  there 
that  one  might  imagine  that  the  trees  of  those  countries  are 
forever  stripped  of  their  fruits,  and  that  the  people  who  live  in 
those  countries  will  be  forced  to  come  to  Rome  to  ask  back 
again  as  much  of  the  products  of  their  own  soil  as  their 
necessities  require.  The  stuffs  of  Babylonia  and  the  jewels 
from  the  barbarous  region  of  interior  Asia  reach  Rome  in 
much  larger  quantities  and  far  more  easily  than  the  products 
of  Naxos  and  of  Cythnus  reach  Athens.  In  fact,  whatever 
commerce  can  lay  hold  of  and  ships  can  carry,  whatever 
agriculture  and  the  mines  produce,  whatever  industry  and  the 
arts  create,  whatever  exists  in  the  earth,  and  whatever  grows 
upon  it,  all  this  is  gathered  together  in  the  market  of  Rome.  • 

Rome   thus   had   become   a   truly   universal   city,   a 
microcosm,   a  miniature   world,   according  to   the   ex- 

The  cosmopoli-  .  .    . 

tan  appearance    pression  of  a  Greek  rhetorician.     Its  appearance  was  as 

of  Rome.  _rr. 

cosmopolitan  as  that  of  our  modern  Paris.  There  one 
might  hear  a  confusion  of  tongues  as  various  as  those 
which  buzz  in  Paris.  The  costumes  of  all  the  coun- 
tries, the  types  of  all  the  races,  presented  there  a  mix- 
ture even  more  picturesque  than  can  be  seen  to-day 
in  that  city.  For  if  the  Roman  civilization  had 
created  unity,  it  had  not  been  able  to  impose  uni- 
formity. Here  were  fair-haired  Germans  and  woolly 
negroes.  Oriental  princes  with  their  pointed  caps, 
such  as  the  Persians  of  our  day  wear,  ran  against 
tattooed  savages  from  the  island  of  Britain.  Rome 
attracted  men  as  it  absorbed  things.  It  was  at  the 
same  time  the  museum  and  the  inn  of  the  universe. 

Under  such  conditions,    transmarine  commerce  was 
Transmarine       naturally  more  fully  and  more  quickly  developed  than 

commerce.  ,  T  ,  ,    ,-., 

other  commerce.  In  a  comedy  of  Plautus,  a  slave 
who  has  just  found  a  bag  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and 
who,  judging  by  its  weight,  thinks  he  has  made  a 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  119 

valuable   find,   builds,    as   we   say,    castles    in    Spain — 

castles  in  Asia,  as  the  Romans  would  have  said.     After  Its  extensive- 
ness. 

he  shall  have  purchased  his  liberty  from  his  master,  he 
proposes  to  equip  vessels  and  to  engage  in  commerce 
on  a  large  scale.  He  will  meet  with  success,  like  a 
certain  contemporary  of  his,  who  became  suddenly 
rich  ;  and  he  will  found  cities  which  shall  bear  his 
name,  and  he  will  be  bowed  down  to  as  king  among 
kings.  A  person  does  not  indulge  in  such  dreams 
unless  there  is  some  foundation  in  reality.  In  fact, 
commerce  beyond  the  sea  had  become  very  extensive. 
This  is  proved  by  its  complicated  organization.  The 
historian  Mommsen  says  : 

In  transmarine  transactions  more  especially  and  such  as 
were  otherwise  attended  with  considerable  risk,  the  system  of  The  system  of 
partnership  was  so  extensively  adopted  that  it  practically  took 
the  place  of  insurances,  which  were  unknown  to  antiquity. 
Nothing  was  more  common  than  the  nautical  loan,  as  it  was 
called — the  modern  "bottomry" — by  which  the  risk  and  gain 
of  transmarine  traffic  were  proportionately  distributed  among 
the  owners  of  the  vessel  and  cargo  and  all  the  capitalists  who 
had  advanced  money  for  the  voyage.  It  was,  however,  a 
general  rule  of  Roman  economy  that  one  should  rather  take 
small  shares  in  many  speculations  than  speculate  independ- 
ently ;  Cato  advised  the  capitalist  not  to  fit  out  a  single  ship 
with  his  money  but  to  enter  into  concert  with  forty-nine  other 
capitalists,  so  as  to  send  out  fifty  ships  and  to  take  an  interest 
in  each,  to  the  extent  of  a  fiftieth  share. 

The  empire,   which   had   made   the   comfort  of   the 
masses  a  subject  of  its  incessant  care,  and,  as  it  were,    The  harbor 

...  r   .,  ,  •      ofOstia. 

an  instrument  of  control,  did  not  fail  to  encourage  this 
commerce,  which  tended  to  create  activity  and  was  a 
source  of  wealth.  Great  public  works  were  undertaken, 
harbors  were  dredged  ;  and  the  excavations  of  Ostia,  so 
prosperously  conducted  by  Signer  Visconti  and  con- 
tinued by  Signor  Pietro  Rosa,  have  shown  us  what 


I2O 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny 's  Time. 


The  port  of 
Claudius. 


Trajan's  har- 
bor. 


intelligence  and  what  large  ideas  the  Romans  displayed 
in  constructions  of  this  kind.  Claudius  and  Trajan  had 
successively  worked  there.  M.  Boissier  says  : 

The  port  of  Claudius  was  shut  in  to  the  right  and  to  the  left 
by  two  solid  jetties,  "  like  two  arms,"  says  Juvenal,  "stretched 
out  in  the  middle  of  the  waves."  The  one  to  the  right, 

sheltered  by  its  po- 
|    s  i  t  i  o  n  from  tem- 
>    pests,  was  formed 
of  arches,    which 
allowed  the  water 
of  the  se?  to  enter, 
while    that  to  the 
left    was    of  solid, 
stout  masonry.     It 
had    to  be  strong 
enough   to  resist 
the  billows,   when 
raised  by  the  south 
wind.   Between  the 
ends    of  the    two 
jetties   the  enor- 
mous vessel  on  which  one  of  the  largest  obelisks  of  Egypt  had 
just  been  brought  over  was  sunk  full  of  stone.     It  became  a 
kind  of  islet,  protecting  the  harbor,  and  only  leaving  on  either 
side  two  narrow  passages,  furnished  with  iron  chains.     On  this 
little  island  a  lighthouse  was  raised — that  is  to  say,  a  tower  of 
several  stories,  ornamented  with  columns  and  pilasters,  like 
the  one  that  lit  the  port  of  Alexandria. 

Soon  the  harbor  of  Claudius  was  inadequate.  Trajan 
had  a  new  one  dug.  It  was  a  hexagonal  basin,  cover- 
ing an  area  of  almost  one  hundred  acres,  and  it  was 
lined  on  .all  sides  by  a  quay  forty  feet  broad,  with 
granite  posts  to  moor  the  ships  to.  These  are  still  in 
their  places.  The  new  harbor  formed  a  continuation  of 
the  old  one,  and  was  joined  to  it  by  a  canal  fifty-nine 
feet  broad,  and  another  canal  put  them  in  communica- 


OSTIA. 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  121 

tion  with  the  river.  This  latter  canal  has  become  a 
new  arm  of  the  river,  and  is  called  to-day  the  Fiumicino. 
There  are  remains  in  the  port  of  Ostia  of  vast  ware- 
houses— docks,  as  we  should  say.  They  all  appear  to  osteiad°cks  at 
have  been  constructed  at  the  same  time  and  upon  the 
same  model.  Great  vats  are  still  in  existence  there, 
half  buried  under  the  ground,  where  corn  and  oil  used 
to  be  stored. 

A  whole  population  of  sailors,  divers,  porters,  lighter- 
men, and  writing  clerks  were  employed  in  the  unload- 
ing and  storing  of  the  merchandise.  A  painting  found 
at  Ostia  preserves  for  us  a  life-like  picture  of  these 
maritime  towns.  It  represents  a  vessel,  with  its  name 
and  that  of  its  proprietor  inscribed  upon  its  side.  It 
was  called  the  Isis  of  Geminius.  M.  Boissier  thus  de- 
scribes the  picture  : 

On  the  poop,  above  a  little  cabin,  the  pilot  Pharnaces  grasps 
the  helm.  Toward  the  middle,  the  captain  Abascantus  is 
overlooking  the  workmen.  On  the  shore,  porters,  bending  ^Jr'^!  Hfe. 
beneath  the  weight  of  sacks  of  corn,  proceed  toward  a  small 
plank,  which  joins  the  ship  to  the  shore.  One  of  them  has 
already  arrived,  and  is  pouring  the  contents  of  his  sack  into  a 
large  measure,  while  in  front  of  him  the  controller,  charged 
with  the  interests  of  the  department,  is  intent  on  seeing  the 
measure  well  filled,  and  holds  the  sack  by  its  edges,  in  order 
that  nothing  may  be  lost.  A  little  further,  another  porter, 
whose  sack  is  empty,  is  sitting  down  to  rest,  and  his  whole 
face  breathes  an  air  of  satisfaction,  explained  by  the  words 
written  by  the  painter  above  his  head,  "I  have  finished" 
(fed}. 

Next    to    maritime    commerce,    money-dealing    was 
the  most  brilliant  feature  of  Roman  private  economics.    Money-dealing. 
It    constituted    the    occupation    of    a   whole    class   of 
the   citizens — namely,   the   equestrian  order.     In  early 
times   this   branch   of    commercial   industry   had   been 


122  Roman  Life  in  Pliny"1  s   Time. 

much   despised.      Cato,   in   his   outspoken   way,  said  : 

Lending  money  at  interest  has  several  advantages,  but  it  is 
not  honorable.  Our  fathers  consequently  decreed,  and  in- 
scribed it  among  their  laws,  that  the  thief  should  be  sentenced 
to  restore  double,  but  the  lender  at  interest  quadruple.  We 
see  by  this  how  much  more  pernicious  a  citizen  they  regarded 
the  usurer  than  the  thief. 

But  neither  the  law  nor  the  instinctive  hate  which 

The  basis  of  -,,,,.  ,  11- 

the  social  the  masses  felt  for  the  business  prevented  money-dealing 

economy  of  the  «     ,        «         •  r     i  r  1  1        i        •         r 

Romans.  and  the  leasing  of  the  taxes  from  becoming  the  basis  or 

the  social  economy  of  the  Romans.  Through  such 
monetary  transactions  the  knights  succeeded  in  gaining 
in  the  state  a  place  which  permitted  them  soon  to 
counterbalance  the  influence  of  the  senatorial  order. 
For  almost  none  of  the  business  men  had  the  good 
sense  to  keep  aloof  from  public  life.  The  example  of 
the  wise  Atticus  was  but  little  followed.  The  mania  for 
holding  office  seized  upon  those  who  grew  rich  at  this 
time,  as  in  our  nineteenth  century. 

We  should  like  to  know  something  about  the  system 
of  banking  among  the  Romans.  Unfortunately,  our 

Banking.  .  .      .   , 

only  source  of  information  is  the  tablets  of  a  provincial 
banker,  Caecilius  Jucundus,  in  business  at  Pompeii. 
These  tablets,  recently  discovered,  comprise  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  signed  receipts,  of  which  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  have  been  deciphered. 
Almost  all  these  receipts  have  reference  to  sales  by 
auction.  We  quote  from  M.  Boissier  : 

He  who  presided  at  the  sale — the  chief  auctioneer,  as  we 
should  call  him — had  to  know  how  to  keep  accounts  and  draw 
up  a  regular  report,  so  a  professional  banker  was  often 
appointed  to  the  office.  This  is  how,  at  Pompeii,  Caecilius 
Jucundus  came  to  be  charged  with  it.  The  presidency  of  the 
banker  had,  besides,  another  advantage.  When  the  buyer, 
who  was  obliged  to  settle  at  once,  had  not  the  needful  sum  at 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  1 23 

his  disposal,  the  banker  advanced  it.  So  in  transactions  of 
this  nature  he  made  two  kinds  of  profit — first,  the  commission  A  banker's 
levied  on  the  total  proceeds  of  the  sale  in  payment  of  his  Profits- 
trouble,  and  then  the  interest  required  of  the  buyer  for  the 
money  lent  to  him.  Our  tablets,  which,  with  a  few  unim- 
portant differences,  are  all  written  the  same  way,  contain  the 
receipt  of  the  seller  to  the  banker  who  furnishes  the  funds,  and 
represents  the  real  buyer  of  whom  he  is  the  intermediary. 
These  documents  have  special  interest  for  lawyers.  Others, 
unfortunately  in  too  small  numbers,  give  us  curious  informa- 
tion touching  the  finances  of  Roman  municipalities,  and  the 
way  in  which  they  administered  their  properties.  They  are 
signed  by  the  town  treasurer,  and  show  us  that  Caecilius,  who 
was  not  satisfied  with  the  emolument  accruing  to  him  from 
sales  by  auction,  also  undertook  to  manage  the  communal 
estates.  He  had  thus  taken  farm  pastures,  a  field,  and  a 
fuller's  shop  belonging  to  the  municipality,  perhaps  either 
sub-letting  or  working  them  himself.  Such  were  the  means 
hit  upon  by  the  banker  of  a  small  town  in  order  to  enrich 
himself. 

Below  the  bankers  were  those  who  lent  money  on  the 
security  of  personal  property  deposited.  For  already  Pawnbrokers, 
this  means  had  been  discovered  of  exploiting  the  poor 
and  needy.  Martial,  in  one  of  his  epigrams,  depicts  a 
man  who  tried  to  appear  rich  making  a  display  of 
sumptuous  elegance  at  the  forum,  although  the  even- 
ing before  he  had  presented  himself  at  the  counter  of 
the  pawnbroker  Claudius  to  pawn  his  ring  in  order  to 
get  enough  money  to  buy  his  supper  with.  In  short, 
whatever  the  social  standing  of  money-dealers  in  Rome, 

-     ,  .  r  •    r  Business 

it  seems  to  be  evident,  in  spite  of  the  scarcity  of  mfor-  immorality, 
mation  on  the  subject,  that  financial  activity  was 
divorced  from  morality.  The  evil  results  of  the  un- 
scrupulous management  of  money  reached  a  climax  at 
the  end  of  the  republic.  Then  occurred  seditions  like 
those  of  Cinna,  of  Catiline,  and  of  Clodius,  which  were 
merely  battles  between  those  who  had  property  and 


124 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s  Time. 


The  shop- 
keepers and 
artisans. 


Division  of 
labor. 


those  who  had  none.  The  reforms  of  the  empire  per- 
haps resulted  in  improving  somewhat  this  situation,  but 
we  do  not  believe  that  the  emperors  succeeded  in 
supplying  financiers  with  true  principles  of  business 
morality. 

We  do  not  entertain  for  commerce  on  a  small  scale 
the  aristocratic  disdain  of  Cicero.  Although  they  are 
at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder,  the  shopkeepers  and  the 
artisans  interest  us  as  much  as  the  bankers  and  the 
ship-owners,  if  not  more  than  they.  We  should  like  to 
have  in  regard  to  this  class  of  Roman  society  abundant 
and  exact  information.  But,  as  we  have  already  said, 

our  information 
j  at  this  point  is 
meager.  How- 
ever, let  us  try  to 
make  the  most 
of  it. 

In  the  first 
place,  we  are 
struck  by  the 
great  variety  of 
trades.  If  the 
theory  of  the 

SHOP  OF  AN  OIL  MERCHANT  AT  POMPEII.  division    of   labor 

is  recent,  its  practice  is  very  ancient.  This  division  of 
labor  was  carried  very  far  at  Rome,  especially  in  the 
manufacture  of  objects  of  art  and  of  luxury.  Besides 
the  gold  and  silversmiths  we  find  ring-makers,  as 
well  as  gold-beaters  and  gilders.  Plautus  has  made  a 
humorous  enumeration  of  the  different  trades  which 
supplied  the  wants  of  women.  Let  the  reader  imagine 
pay-day  in  a  wealthy  family  : 
There  stands  the  scourer,  the  embroiderer,  the  goldsmith, 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  125 

the  woolen  manufacturer,  retail  dealers  in  figured  skirts, 
dealers  in  women's  underclothing,  dyers  in  flame-color,  dyers  Enumeration 
in  violet,  dyers  in  wax-color,  or  else  sleeve-makers,  or  perfum-  °rfa<deg1.nct 
ers  ;  wholesale  linen-drapers,  shoemakers,  squatting  cobblers, 
slipper-makers  ;  sandal-makers  stand  there  ;  stainers  in  mallow- 
color  stand  there  ;  hair-dressers  make  their  demands,  botchers 
their  demands  ;  bodice-makers  stand  there  ;  makers  of  kirtles 
take  their  stand.  Now  you  would  think  them  got  rid  of ;  these 
make  way,  others  make  their  demands  ;  three  hundred  duns 
are  standing  in  your  hall ;  weavers,  lace-makers,  cabinet- 
makers, are  introduced  ;  the  money's  paid  them.  You  would 
think  them  got  rid  of  by  this  ;  when  dyers  in  saffron-colors 
come  sneaking  along ;  or  else  there's  always  some  horrid 
plague  or  other  which  is  demanding  something. 

Plautus  may  have  exaggerated  somewhat  for  the 
sake  of  the  humor,  and  made  up  out  of  his  own  head 
some  trade  which  did  not  exist.  But  his  exaggeration 
does  not  overstep  the  bounds  of  verisimilitude.  For 
we  know  that  in  the  branches  of  commerce  which  admit 
of  fewer  specialties,  each  merchant  limited  his  com- 
mercial activity  to  certain  articles.  Thus  among  those 
who  sold  vegetables,  lupine  sellers  formed  a  distinct 
class.  Among  clothiers  were  specialists  who  handled 
only  the  varieties  of  mantles  or  of  overcoats,  or  nothing 
but  light  summer  garments. 

A  passage  in  Martial,   already  referred  to,   explains 

'.  '  The  bustle  of 

how  these  shops  were  situated.     A  person  can  easily  trade  upon  the 

streets. 

imagine  what  a  commotion  in  the  streets  must  have 
resulted  from  these  stalls  placed  against  the  houses, 
encroaching  upon  the  streets,  with  their  keepers  gesticu- 
lating and  jabbering  after  the  fashion  of  southerners. 
This  bustle  and  excitement  partly  made  up  for  the 
absence  of  carriages.  For  on  account  of  the  inequali- 
ties in  the  ground  and  the  lack  of  space,  two  incon- 
veniences which  made  such  a  precaution  necessary  in  a 
city  as  populous  as  Rome,  the  circulation  of  vehicles 


126  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 

was  forbidden  there  during  the  ten  hours  after  sunrise, 
that  is,  during  the  portion  of  the  day  when  the  move- 
ment  of    pedestrians    was    the    most    animated.     The 
venders  would  wax  voluble  and  excited.     The  discus- 
sions which  they  carried  on  with  their  customers  filled 
si  ns  over  the     t^ie  streets  with   clamor.     The   signs   over   the   shops 
shops.  excited  exclamations  of  scorn  or  of  admiration  among 

the  idlers  and  loungers  who  abounded  at  Rome,  as  in 
all  large  cities.  Here,  over  a  pork-butcher's,  is  a  sign, 
displaying  a  representation  in  relief  of  five  magnificent 
hams.  Another  sign,  executed  in  relief,  shows  us  the 
interior  of  a  clothing  house ;  there  are  two  rooms ;  in 
one  there  is  a  purchaser  ;  in  the  other,  a  lady,  ex- 
amining the  goods  which  the  proprietor  and  his  clerks 
are  eagerly  showing  her.  A  dealer  in  game  and 
poultry  has  placed  on  his  sign  a  hare,  two  boars,  and 
several  large  birds  hanging  upon  a  wall ;  and  not  satis- 
fied with  this  still  life,  he  has  added  to  the  picture  a 
young  lady  in  the  act  of  bargaining  with  the  sales- 
woman of  the  store.  These  signs  exhibit  sometimes  a 
certain  taste,  a  certain  skill  in  the  arrangement  of 
accessories,  and  considerable  ability  in  producing  figures 
and  attitudes  true  to  life  ;  and  they  lead  us  to  infer 
that  some  of  these  small  tradesmen  possessed  a  culture 
not  to  be  expected  from  people  in  their  situation. 

The  culture  of  .  ^  .  -      , 

tradesmen.  Moreover,  to  confirm  us  in  our  inference,  we  find 
inscribed  on  many  of  the  shops  quotations  from  the 
poets,  especially  from  Virgil.  The  orthography  is 
sometimes  faulty.  The  precisians  of  this  time  were 
probably  shocked  now  and  then  by  faults  of  grammar. 
But  should  the  right  to  commit  solecisms  be  denied 
shopkeepers,  when  Juvenal  claimed  it  for  the  husband 
of  a  pedantic  lady?  Would  it  not  be  better  to  con- 
gratulate the  poor  people  for  having,  in  their  simple 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  127 

way,  loved,  notwithstanding  their  lack  of  instruction, 
beautiful  verses  and  the  great  poets  ? 

This  semi-culture,  this  liking  for  the  popular  poets  is 
not  the  only  trait  common  to  the  ancient  merchants  The  patriotism 

*  of  shopkeepers. 

and  our  modern  tradesmen.  Both  are  easily  irritated 
against  the  government ;  they  will  engage  with  pleasure 
in  sullen  resistance  or  in  a  petty  war  against  authority. 
But  deep  in  their  hearts  they  cherish  a  tender  feeling 
for  the  established  power  and  profess  a  profound  antipa- 
thy for  revolutions.  They  are,  in  short,  conservatives. 
Cicero  said  (and  the  justness  of  his  opinion  was  proved 
by  the  events  of  the  following  age)  : 

The  great  majority  of  shopkeepers  or  tavern-keepers  or 
rather  the  entire  class  is  eminently  peaceful. 

According  to  a  letter  written  by  Pronto  to  Marcus 
Aurelius,  it  was  usual  to  see  in  the  shops  of  Rome 
busts  or  portraits  of  the  reigning  emperors.  Upon  the 
birthday  of  the  prince,  the  commercial  population  of 
the  city  were  foremost  in  their  eagerness  to  light  up 
their  houses  and  adorn  them  with  garlands. 

These  humble  people  had  kind  hearts,  as  is  often  the 
case  among  those  of  limited  means.  If  a  master  lost  a  The  kindness 

.  .         oftradesmen. 

journeyman  or  an  apprentice,  he  mourned  him  sin- 
cerely, and  composed  for  him  some  beautiful  epitaph, 
praising  him  freely  after  his  death  for  the  good  qualities 
which  perhaps  he  had  not  credited  him  with  during  his 
life.  To  a  workman  in  the  jeweler's  trade  who  was 
"without  his  equal  in  the  art  of  making  Clodian 
vases"  his  former  master  delivered  this  recommenda- 
tion for  him  to  present  at  his  entrance  into  another 
world:  "He  has  never  spoken  evil  of  any  one,  nor 
done  the  least  thing  contrary  to  his  master's  will. 
There  was  always  a  pile  of  gold  and  silver  near  him,  but 


128.  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

he  never  allowed  himself  to  be  overcome  by  avarice." 
It  was  not  uncommon  to  find  in  the  houses  of  these 
simple  people  some  pet  animal,  or  a  tame  bird,  a 
canary  perhaps,  or  a  blackbird.  Pliny  the  Elder  re- 
ports that  under  Tiberius  a  shoemaker  had  taught  a 
young  crow  to  talk. 

The  crow  [he  says]  used  to  fly  every  morning  upon  the 
A  shoemaker's  rostrum,  whence  orators  were  accustomed  to  address  the 
crow-  people.  From  this  position,  looking  toward  the  forum,  it 

would  salute,  calling  upon  them  by  their  names,  Tiberius,  then 
the  two  young  Caesars,  Germanicus  and  Drusus,  afterward  the 
people  who  passed  by.  Having  done  this,  it  would  return  to 
his  master's  shop.  It  repeated  this  performance  daily  during 
several  successive  years.  Another  shoemaker  of  the  neigh- 
borhood killed  the  bird,  either  through  jealousy,  or,  as  he 
pretended,  in  a  sudden  fit  of  anger,  because  it  had  soiled  a 
pair  of  his  shoes.  The  people  were  so  exasperated  by  the 
deed  that  they  drove  the  murderer  out  of  the  neighborhood 
at  once,  and  afterward  killed  him.  But  to  the  bird  they  paid 
solemn  funeral  rites.  Its  bier,  borne  by  two  Ethiopians, 
preceded  by  a  flute-player,  and  accompanied  by  a  crowd  carry- 
ing garlands  of  flowers,  was  conveyed  to  a  funeral  pile  con- 
structed near  the  Appian  Way. 

The  official  record  of  events,  belonging  to  this  time, 
makes  mention  of  this  public  funeral. 

The  Roman  tradesmen  and  craftsmen  felt  the  need, 
as  men  of  their  condition  have  always  felt  it,  of  organi- 
zation. Hence,  they  established  guilds — or  colleges, 
to  use  the  Roman  word.  These  guilds  had  their  regu- 
lations and  their  laws,  which,  however,  did  not  inter- 
fere with  the  personal  liberty  of  their  members  in 
seeking  or  accepting  employment.  The  object  of  these 
associations  was  mutual  protection  and  support.  The 
members  were  solemnly  entered  with  religious  rites. 
In  fact,  the  origin  of  these  corporations  has  been  traced 
back  to  Numa  Pompilius,  the  founder  of  the  religious 


Transaction  of  Business, 


129 


institutions  of  the  Romans.  Each  guild  was  under 
the  protection  of  some  guardian  divinity,  and  many  of 
them  made  it  their  chief  object  to  establish  a  burial  t 

J  Burial  funds. 

fund,  in  order  that  even  the  poorest  members  might  be 
sure  of  being  hon- 
ored after  death  by 
suitable    funeral 
services. 

Sometimes  the 
members  of  a  guild 
enjoyed  a  feast  to- 
gether, defraying 
the  expense  from 
their  common 
treasury,  which 
was  supplied  by 
entrance  fees  and 
monthly  assess- 
ments. On  such 
occasions  they 
would  join  in  a 
formal  procession, 
enlivened  some- 
times by  a  gay 
parade. 

All  the  guilds, 
finally,  used  to 
have  a  joyous  cel- 
ebration in  com- 

Celebration  on 

mon   on   the    i  sth   of  March,  a   day   sacred  to    Anna  the  isth  of 

March. 

Perenna,  an  Italian  goddess,  who  ushered  in  the  return- 
ing year.  At  this  date  the  lower  classes  of  Rome  used 
to  go  and  picnic  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber — whole 
families  together.  Some  put  up  tents  of  branches  to 


130  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 

shelter  them  as  they  partook  of  their  repasts.  Others, 
less  careful  of  their  comfort,  were  satisfied  with  spread- 
ing out  their  eatables  on  the  grass  under  the  sky.  They 
would  feast  and  drink  to  each  other's  health.  Merry 
companions  would  gather  together  and  pray  to  the 
goddess  to  grant  them  as  many  days  of  life  as  they 
dipped  spoonsful  from  their  bowls,  and  in  the  evening 
all  these  people,  excited  by  the  many  bumpers  which 
they  had  drained,  would  return  to  Rome  with  tottering 
steps,  through  a  crowd  of  curious  spectators,  who  found 
amusement  in  watching  them. 

There  was  at  Rome  no  quarter  set  apart  by  custom 
Trade  centers      or  by  law  especially  for  commerce.      But  the  merchants 

in  Rome.  J  * 

themselves,  according  to  the  character  of  the  goods  in 
which  they  dealt,  chose  this  or  that  part  of  the  city  for 
the  establishment  of  their  business.  The  handsomest 
shops  in  the  time  of  Domitian  were  in  the  large  in- 
closure  called  the  Septa  upon  the  Campus  Martius. 
Here  would  come  any  one  who  wished  to  provide  him- 
self with  the  best  slaves,  elegant  furniture,  with  any  arti- 
cle made  of  choice  wood,  ivory,  tortoise-shell,  bronze, 
or  Corinthian  brass,  with  Greek  statues,  antique  cups 
artistically  carved,  with  crystal  vases,  with  dishes  and 
utensils  of  every  kind,  and  with  murrhine  pottery. 
The  Via  Sacra  was  the  headquarters  for  goldsmiths 
and  jewelers.  The  great  center  for  Egyptian  and 
Arabian  merchandise  was  in  the  Forum  Pacis.  Silks, 
perfumes,  and  spices  were  sold  in  the  Vicus  Tuscus, 
and  probably  also  in  the  Circus  Maximus.  Moreover, 
it  frequently  happened  that  those  who  were  engaged  in 
the  same  trade,  or  the  same  profession,  would  group 
themselves  about  a  single  point.  We  find  that  some  of 
the  streets  were  named  from  the  traffic  of  those  who 
lived  upon  them.  There  was  the  grain  merchants' 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  131 


street,  the  belt-makers'  street,  the  sandal-makers'  street, 
the  wood-dealers'  street,  the  glaziers'  street,  etc. 

We   have    enumerated    the    methods,    more   or   less 
honest,  of  gaining  a  livelihood  at  Rome.     There  were   Money  a  god. 
other  means,  shamefully  dishonest,  of  making  fortunes. 
Money  became  a  god.     Juvenal,  in  one  of  his  satires, 
exclaims  : 

O  gold  !  though  Rome  beholds  no  altar's  flame, 

No  temples  rise  to  thy  pernicious  name, 

Such  as  to  Victory,  Virtue,  Faith  are  reared, 

And  Concord,  where  the  clamorous  stork  is  heard, 

Yet  is  thy  full  divinity  confest, 

Thy  shrine  established  here,  in  every  breast. 

But,  although  this  god  had  no  formal  worship,  it  had 
nevertheless  faithful  worshipers. 

One  of  the  favorite  expedients  for  arriving  at  a 
fortune  was  the  hunting  of  legacies.  In  the  epoch  hunting, 
which  we  are  studying  this  had  become  more  than  a 
business — it  was  an  art  systematically  practiced  accord- 
ing to  certain  rules.  Already  Horace  had  tried  to 
expose  the  theory  of  this  art,  in  the  satire  in  which  he 
represents  to  us  the  shade  of  the  divine  Tiresias  teach- 
ing Ulysses  how  to  repair  his  fortune,  ruined  by  the 
prodigalities  of  Penelope's  suitors.  But  the  instruction 
of  Tiresias  was  rudimentary  ;  he  was  a  babe  in  the  art. 
The  employment  of  legacy-hunting  rapidly  gained  in 
extent.  This  was  due  to  the  enormous  increase  of  childlessness 
celibacy  and  childlessness  among  the  upper  classes,  two 
evils  that  the  laws  of  Augustus  had  not  succeeded  in 
curing. 

Here  in  Crotona  [wrote  Petronius,  who  transfers  to  this 
city  the  characteristics  of  Rome]  learning  is  in  no  esteem  ; 
eloquence  finds  no  acceptance  ;  nor  can  temperance  and 
morality  meet  with  commendation,  much  less  lead  to  profit ; 


132  Roman  Life  in  Pliny 's   Time, 

but  all  the  men  you  see  in  that  city  know  for  certain  that  they 
belong  to  one  or  other  of  two  classes  ;  for  they  either  hunt  or 
are  hunted  for  legacies.  No  one  there  rears  children  ;  for 
whoever  has  natural  heirs  is  not  admitted  to  any  public  shows 
or  entertainments,  is  excluded  from  all  social  privileges,  and 
herds  obscurely  with  the  dregs  of  the  people.  On  the  con- 
trary, those  who  have  never  married,  and  have  no  near 
kindred,  are  advanced  to  the  highest  honors  ;  they  are  the 
only  brave,  the  only  fit  to  command,  and,  in  short,  the  only 
virtuous.  You  will  see  a  city  like  those  fields  in  the  time  of  a 
pestilence  in  which  there  are  only  torn  carcasses,  and  crows 
tearing  them. 

As  legacy-hunters  became  more  numerous,  their  art 

Development        .  i  •    i  i       j         i          j 

of  the  art  of        became  more  highly  developed. 

legacy-hunting.  ™,  -i          i_  •  a  j- 

Ine  most  servile  obsequiousness,  flattery,  according 
to  the  person  practiced  upon,  the  most  ingenious,  or 
the  most  fulsome — such  were  the  methods  employed. 
Those  Greeks  of  whom  Juvenal  wrote 

They  batten  on  the  genial  soil  of  Rome, 
Minions,  then  lords,  of  every  princely  dome  ! 
A  flattering,  cringing,  treacherous,  artful  race, 
Of  torrent  tongue,  and  never  blushing  face, 

were  they  not  in  all  probability  legacy-hunters  ?  Juvenal 
thus  continues  his  description  of  them  : 

A  Protean  tribe,  one  knows  not  what  to  call, 
Which  shifts  to  every  form,  and  shines  in  all  ; 
Grammarian,  painter,  augur,  rhetorician, 
Rope-dancer,  conjurer,  fiddler,  and  physician, 
All  trades  his  own,  your  hungry  Greekling  counts  ; 
And  bid  him  mount  the  sky — the  sky  he  mounts. 

The  legacy-hunter  knew  how  to  satisfy  and  even  to 
Waiting  for  a  forestall  all  the  whims  of  the  rich  man  whose  death  he 
death.  was  waiting  for.  If  the  rich  man  fell  sick,  his  legacy- 

hunters  would  lavish  upon  him  their  most  solicitous 
attentions,  they  would  pray  for  him  in  the  temples, 
they  would  even  go  so  far  as  to  offer  to  sacrifice,  in 


The   Transaction  of  Business,  133 

case  of  his  recovery,  elephants  and  men.  If  the  rich 
man  wrote  verses,  his  legacy-hunters  would  declare  °eacC!hunters 
that  in  comparison  with  him  Homer  was  a  scribbler.  If 
the  rich  man  had  a  lawsuit  on  hand,  his  legacy-hunters 
would  hasten  to  court  to  defend  him.  And  it  was  not 
enough  for  them  to  be  obsequious,  they  had  to  be 
skilful  enough  to  make  it  appear  that  so  many  thought- 
ful acts,  so  many  kind  services.,  had  their  source  in  a 
disinterested  friendship.  They  would  express  the  wish 
that  the  rich  man  whom  they  were  waiting  upon  might 
be  blessed  with  children.  They  would  even  make  wills 
in  his  favor,  naturally  with  the  hope  of  reciprocity. 

It   sometimes    happened    that    the   would-be   dupers   _ 

Traps  set  for 

were  duped.  Many  a  clever  rich  man  could  attract  a  legacy-hunters, 
following,  if  not  devoted,  at  least  active  and  eager  to 
render  services,  by  setting  a  bait  for  legacy-hunters. 
Junius  Vindex,  for  instance,  the  general  who  rebelled 
against  Nero's  authority,  used  to  dose  himself,  in  order 
to  lure  on  his  legacy- hunters,  with  a  drug  which  had 
the  effect  of  producing  an  artificial  pallor  of  counte- 
nance. So  he  was  humored  and  fawned  upon  up  to 
the  last  day  that  he  practiced  his  deception.  Domitius 
Tullus  used  a  similar  method.  After  having  allowed 
himself  to  be  pampered  by  those  who  were  aiming  at  his 

Some  legacy- 
fortune,  he  made  his  niece,  whom  he  had  adopted,  his   hunters  disap- 
pointed. 
heiress.      He   left  besides  a  number  of   bequests,    and 

large  bequests  to  his  grandchildren,  and  left  something 
even  for  his  great-grandson.  So  his  will  was  received 
by  those  who  had  counted  upon  his  neglecting  his 
family  in  their  favor  with  a  vexation  which  they  could 
not  conceal.  Respectable  people,  and  Pliny  the 
Younger  foremost,  applauded,  and  were  overjoyed. 
For 

'Tis  a  double  delight  to  deceive  a  deceiver. 


134  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

But  the  legacy-hunters  did  not  often  allow  themselves 
to  be  caught  in  a  trap.  Had  they  not  studied  the 
lessons  of  Arruntius  and  Haterius,  who,  according  to 
Seneca,  were  accomplished  in  the  art  of  hunting 
legacies?  But,  above  all,  had  they  not  before  their 
Masters  of  eves  the  examples  of  the  great  masters,  Cassus  and 

legacy-hunting.        * 

Regulus?  Pliny  has  given  a  place  of  honor  to  the 
latter,  and  has  shown  him  to  us  in  the  exercise  of  his 
trade.  Let  us  quote  the  passage  ;  our  readers  will  then 
become  acquainted  with  a  typical  example  of  this  class 
of  men  who  play  so  important  a  part  in  the  history  of 
manners  in  the  second  century  after  Christ. 

Are  you  inclined  to  hear  a  story,  or  if  you  please  two  or 
three  ?  for  one  brings  to  my  mind  another.  'Tis  no  matter 
which  I  begin  with,  so  take  them  as  follows.  Verania,  the 
widow  of  Piso,  who  was  adopted  by  Galba,  lay  extremely  ill. 
Upon  this  occasion  Regulus  made  her  a  visit.  By  the  way, 
mark  the  assurance  of  the  man,  to  visit  a  lady  to  whom  he 
was  so  extremely  odious,  and  to  whose  husband  he  was  a 
declared  enemy  !  Even  barely  to  enter  her  house  would  have 
been  imprudent  enough  ;  but  he  had  the  confidence  to  go 
Verania  much  farther,  and  very  familiarly  placed  himself  by  her  bed- 

deceived  by         side.     He  began   very  gravely  with  inquiring  what  dav  and 

Regulus.  J    °  '  t     *    i  • 

hour  she  was  born.  Being  informed  of  these  important  par- 
ticulars, he  composes  his  countenance,  fixes  his  eyes,  mutters 
something  to  himself,  counts  his  fingers,  and  all  this  merely  to 
keep  the  poor  sick  lady  in  suspense.  When  he  had  finished 
this  ridiculous  mummery,  "You  are,"  says  he,  "in  one  of 
your  climacterics  ;  however,  you  will  get  over  it.  But  for 
your  greater  satisfaction,  I  will  consult  with  a  certain  diviner, 
whose  skill  I  have  frequently  experienced."  Accordingly 
away  he  goes,  consults  the  omens,  and  returns  with  the 
strongest  assurances  that  they  confirmed  what  he  had  promised 
on  the  part  of  the  stars.  Upon  this  the  credulous  good  woman 
calls  for  her  will,  and  gives  Regulus  a  handsome  legacy. 
Some  time  afterward  her  distemper  increased  ;  and  in  her  last 
moments  she  exclaimed  against  this  infamous  wretch  who  had 
thus  basely  deceived  her,  though  he  wished  every  curse  might 


The   Transaction  of  Business.  135 

befall  his  son  if  what  he  promised  her  was  not  true.  But 
such  sort  of  imprecations  are  as  common  with  Regulus  as 
they  are  impious  ;  and  he  continually  devotes  that  unhappy- 
youth  to  the  curses  of  those  gods  whose  vengeance  his  own 
frauds  every  day  provoke. 

Velleius  Blaesus,  a  person  of  consular  dignity,  and  remark- 
able for  his  immense  wealth,  in  his  last  sickness  had  an  incli-   The  plot  of 

i  n.       x-        •     t_-        -11       ™         i  L      u    j    Regulus  against 

nation  to  make  some  alteration  in  his  will.     Regulus,  who  had   Blaesus. 

lately  endeavored  to  insinuate  himself  into  his  friendship, 
hoped  to  receive  some  advantage  by  the  intended  change,  and 
accordingly  applies  himself  to  his  physicians,  and  conjures 
them  to  exert  all  their  skill  to  prolong  the  poor  man's  life. 
But  the  moment  the  will  was  signed,  his  style  was  changed. 
"How  long,"  says  he  to  these  very  physicians,  "do  you 
design  to  keep  this  man  in  misery  ?  Since  you  cannot  pre- 
serve his  life,  why  will  you  prolong  his  death?"  Blaesus  is 
since  dead  ;  and  as  if  he  had  overheard  every  word  that 
Regulus  had  said,  he  has  not  left  him  one  farthing. 

And  now  have  you  had  enough  ?  or,  like  a  truant  schoolboy, 
are  you  for  listening  still  to  another  tale  ?    If  so,  Regulus  will    How  Regulus 
supply  you.     You  must  know,  then,  that  Aurelia,  a  lady  of  bequest  from 
distinguished  accomplishments,  designing  to  execute  her  will,    Aurelia. 
had    dressed    herself   for    that    purpose    in  a  very  splendid 
manner.     Regulus,    who    was    present    as  a  witness,   turned 
about  to  the  lady,  and  "  Pray,"  says  he,  "leave  me  these  fine 
clothes."     Aurelia  at  first  thought  him  in  jest ;  but  he  in- 
sisted upon  it  very  seriously,  and  obliged  her  to  open  her  will 
and  insert  this  legacy  ;  and  though  he  saw  her  write  it,  yet  he 
would  not  be  satisfied  till  he  read  the  clause  himself.     How- 
ever, Aurelia  is  still  alive  ;  though  Regulus,  no  doubt,  when 
he  solicited  this  bequest,  expected  soon  to  enjoy  it. 

A  clever  man,    like  this   Regulus,    was  always  able  „ 

J  Difficulties  with 

finally  to  escape  from  justice,   but  it  was  difficult  for  the  courts. 
him  to  avoid  entirely  legal  complications.     Less  skilful 
adventurers    were    almost    sure   to    become    seriously 
entangled  in  difficulties  with  the  courts. 

This  brings  us  to  our  next  subject  for  consideration — 
the  Roman  bar. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   BAR. 

As  we  have  indicated,  the  unscrupulous  conduct  of 
legacy-hunters  and  sharpers  was  a  prolific  source  of 
lawsuits.  If  the  reader  will  reflect  upon  the  social 
disturbance  caused  by  the  civil  wars  that  followed  the 
death  of  Nero,  and  upon  the  fact  that  the  political 
platform  had  become  silent,  he  will  see  why  judicial 
eloquence,  under  the  Flavians  and  the  Antonines,  de- 
veloped in  a  way  that  merits  our  attention. 

Under  the  Caesars  the  Roman  bar  was  very  corrupt. 
Corruption  The  beautiful  relation  between  patron  and  clients  had 
bar.  disappeared.  To  be  a  successful  advocate  one  no 

longer  needed  the  science  of  law,  nor  oratorical  power. 
Still  less  necessary  was  it  that  an  advocate  should  com- 
mand respect  by  an  honorable  life.  It  was  sufficient  if 
he  had  big  lungs  and  an  effrontery  difficult  to  dis- 
concert. Look  at  Vatinus  ;  yesterday  he  was  a  baker, 
to-day  he  pleads.  Look  at  Attalus  ;  yesterday  he 
drove  mules,  to-day  he  wins  cases.  And  Ciperus  ! 
He  has  abandoned  his  baker's  oven,  and  is  now  a 
successful  barrister.  Has  he  not  a  voice  sonorous  as  a 
trumpet?  Was  he  ever  known  to  perspire  or  spit 
during  a  speech  ? 

Some  advocates,  on  the  other  hand,  are  steeped  in 
f0emenao>£f        letters.     They   come  from  the   schools  of   the   rhetor- 
icians.    Do   not  expect  them  to  study  their  cases,  to 
try  to  understand  men,  to  know  how  to  read  hearts,  to 
appeal  to  right  or  eternal  justice  ;  they  have  no  interest 

136 


The  Bar. 


137 


in  all  that.     They  are  mere  acrobats  in  eloquence  ;  you 
could  sing  and  dance,  as  Tacitus  says,  to  their  speeches. 

"You  are  a  villain,"  some  one  said  to  Pedius,  a 
jurist.  And  what  did  Pedius  reply  ?  He  met  the  accu- 
sation with  antitheses,  skilfully  balanced,  and  brand- 
new  metaphors. 

Quintilian  summed  up  the  faults  of  the  bar  at  this 
epoch     in    two   words — 
ignorance    and    frivolity. 
He  expressed  the  truth. 

Quintilian  had  the 
praiseworthy  ambition  to 
change  this  condition  of 
things,  and  he  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  with 
partial  success  in  his  at- 
tempt. His  education 
prepared  him  for  under- 
taking this  reform.  His 
father,  and  even  his 
grandfather,  had  been 
rhetoricians  of  some 
merit.  The  taste  for  pub- 
lic speaking  had  there- 
fore been  handed  down 
in  his  family  as  an  honor- 
able tradition.  Quintilian 
was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  an  early  age,  and  made 
a  mark  for  himself.  We 
know  that  he  pleaded  for 
Marcus  Arpinianus,  accused  of  having  thrown  his  wife 
out  of  a  window,  and  for  the  queen  Berenice,  who  acted 
as  judge  in  her  own  cause.  Nothing  remains  to  us  of 


Quintilian's 
efforts  at 
reform. 


Quintilian's 
qualifications 
as  a  reformer. 


AN  ORATOR.    Museum  of  Naples. 


138 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny'1  s   Time. 


An  advocate 
should  be 
versed  in  the 
law. 


He  should  con- 
sider natural 
right. 


Affectation  to 
be  avoided. 


The  art  of 
lying. 


his  speeches  in  defense  of  these  clients,  but  they  were 
much  praised  by  his  contemporaries.  We  have  there- 
fore lost  the  record  of  Quintilian's  law  practice.  But, 
fortunately,  he  -has  not  hesitated  in  his  book  on  ' '  The 
Education  of  the  Orator ' '  to  quote  from  himself  by  way 
of  illustration.  Thus  he  has  made  it  possible  for  us  to 
obtain  a  very  good  idea  of  his  theory,  and  to  know 
against  what  evils  his  efforts  at  reform  were  directed. 

He  held,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  advocate  should 
be  versed  in  the  law.  He  was  loud  in  condemnation  of 
flowery  talkers  and  composers  of  academic  phrases,  and 
he  insisted  that  it  was  necessary  for  one  who  wished  to 
win  success  at  the  bar  to  understand  the  praetor's  edicts 
and  the  text  of  the  civil  law.  Protesting  against  those 
adventurers,  those  ignorant  tricksters,  whose  aim  was 
to  dispatch  their  cases  with  the  greatest  possible  speed, 
he  claims  that  the  advocate  should  not  concern  himself 
only  with  the  written  law,  but  also  with  natural  right, 
with  eternal  justice.  He  affirms  that  one  can  be  truly 
eloquent  only  if  he  has  reflected  upon  the  nature  of 
happiness,  on  the  foundation  of  morality,  on  all  that 
pertains  to  the  good  and  the  true.  Finally,  he  advises 
any  one  who  seeks  to  attract  about  himself  a  circle  of 
clients  to  renounce  the  affected  and  puerile  style  of  the 
schools  of  declamation,  and  to  return  to  the  tradition  of 
the  most  ancient  masters,  of  Cicero  especially  —  to 
speak,  in  short,  a  language  straightforward,  manly,  and 
elevated. 

Why  could  not  Quintilian  have  completely  escaped 
the  evil  influence  of  his  time?  Why  could  he  not 
have  condemned  without  qualification  the  unscrupulous 
devices  of  the  sophists  and  the  rhetoricians  ?  Why 
did  he  conceive  the  unfortunate  idea  of  formulating  into 
a  theory  the  art  of  lying  ?  Remarking  that  there  are 


The  Bar.  139 

causes  where  every  effort  fails,  he  advises  the  orator  to 
use  on  such  occasions  what  he  calls  colors,  that  is  to  Colors. 
say,  specious  conjectures,  false  narrations.  In  this 
kind  of  oratorical  fiction,  he  says,  it  is  important,  first, 
to  take  care  that  the  story  which  one  invents  is  possible, 
and  that  it  suits  at  the  same  time  the  person  of  whom 
it  is  told  and  the  time  and  place  involved  ;  and 
secondly,  it  is  well,  as  far  as  possible,  to  connect  what 
one  invents  with  something  true,  ' '  for  when  all  is  false, 
the  lie  betrays  itself."  Oh,  admirable  rules,  indeed  ! 
Quintilian  forgot,  alas  !  that  virtue  should  be  exercised 
even  by  an  orator. 

But  in  spite  of  these  errors  the  influence  of  Quintilian 
on  the  eloquence  of  the  bar  was  very  salutary.  Under  ofthr°bl™ent 
Trajan  real  progress  was  made.  Encouraged  and  sus-  underTraJan- 
tained  by  the  prince,  and  by  honest  people,  a  few 
distinguished  men  restored  to  the  advocate's  profession 
the  prestige  which  it  had  temporarily  lost.  These 
benefactors  of  the  profession  were  Saturninus,  poet  as 
well  as  orator,  Voconius  Romanus,  a  shrewd  old  man  of 
the  forum,  Erucius  Clarus,  a  Roman  of  the  ancient 
type,  a  great  and  an  honest  man,  Pomponius  Rufus,  a 
remarkable  improvisor,  Titius  Aristo,  a  skilful  lawyer, 
and  besides  these,  above  them  perhaps,  their  rival, 
their  friend,  Pliny  the  Younger. 

We   have   been   accustomed   to   consider    Pliny   the 
Younger  merely  as  a  letter-writer;  and  it  seems  as  if  P'inya 

»  orator. 

the  fame  which  he  won  by  his  delightful  correspond- 
ence ought  to  be  enough  for  him.  But  he  was  not 
satisfied  with  that.  An  orator's  reputation  is  more 
splendid  and  more  brilliant  than  a  writer's.  Pliny 
loved  to  shine.  This  was  the  weakness  of  that  soul,  so 
sound  otherwise  and  so  good.  Accordingly  he  took 
his  place  among  the  advocates. 


140 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


His  high 
ideal  of  the 
advocate's 
profession. 


Unscrupulous 
conduct  of 
Nominatus. 


Thrasea's 
maxim. 


We  need  not  lament  this  fact,  for  he  helped  to  glorify 
Roman  eloquence,  which  was  so  soon  to  disappear. 

Pliny  had,  in  the  first  place,  the  great  merit  of  cher- 
ishing a  high  ideal  of  his  profession.  He  would  not 
admit  that  the  art  of  the  advocate  was  a  mercenary  art, 
and  that  his  services  should  be  paid.  Already,  under 
the  emperor  Claudius,  the  consul  Silius  had  severely 
censured  those  men  who  sold  their  talent  as  if  it  was  a 
commodity,  and  he  had  demanded  a  law  forbidding 
advocates  to  receive  a  salary.  But  his  words  remained 
without  effect.  Under  Trajan,  Tuscilius  Nominatus, 
elected  as  advocate  by  the  inhabitants  of  Vicetia,  re- 
quired them  to  advance  him  10,000  sesterces  ($425), 
and  then  on  the  day  of  the  hearing  he  did  not  appear. 
That  was  money  easily  made.  The  tribune  Nigrinus 
denounced  the  scandalous  proceeding  to  the  senate, 
and  the  senate  decreed  a  return  to  the  severity  of  the 
ancient  laws.  Pliny  heartily  applauded  this  reform, 
which,  however,  did  not  touch  him,  as  he  had  never 
made  merchandise  of  his  eloquence. 

Another  thing  no  less  creditable  to  Pliny's  character 
is  that  he  did  not  think  it  right  for  him  to  plead  any 
cause  that  happened  in  his  way,  nor  did  his  natural 
tastes  lead  him  to  violate  his  conscience  at  this  point. 
He  did  not  wish  to  resemble  that  Greek  orator,  Thera- 
menes,  who  had  been  nicknamed  "The  Trimmer."  He 
had  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  maxim  of  Thrasea, 
' '  There  are  three  sorts  of  causes  which  we  ought  to 
undertake  :  those  of  our  friends,  those  of  the  deserted, 
and  those  which  tend  to  public  example."  Neither 
influence,  nor  flattery,  nor  bribes,  could  induce  him  to 
plead  a  case  when  he  thought  that  his  honor  imposed 
silence  upon  him.  In  vain  did  his  friend  Octavius 
Rufus  beg  him  to  defend  a  certain  Gallus  against  the 


The  Bar.  141 

inhabitants  of  Baetica.  In  vain  did  he  attempt,  by 
sending  him  figs,  mushrooms,  and  excellent  dates,  to 
forestall  a  refusal.  Nothing  succeeded.  Pliny  remained 
gently  inflexible. 

But  when  he  once  consented  to  undertake  a  case,  he  Pijny>s  prepa. 
put  his  whole  soul  into  it.      He  did  not  think  he  could  speeThes^ his 
devote  too  much  care  and  study  to  it.     Very  different 
from  those  improvisors  who  were  always  satisfied  with 
themselves,  Pliny  would  spend  long  hours  in  his  private 
study  preparing  his  speeches.      He  did  not  pride  him- 
self on  being  always  ready ;  on  the  contrary,  the  hour 
for  appearing  before  his  audience  seemed  rather  to  come 
too  soon. 

I  had  repaired  [he  writes]  to  the  Basilica  Julia,  to  hear 
some  advocates  to  whom  I  was  to  reply  at  the  next  session. 
The  judges  had  taken  their  places,  the  decemvirs  had  arrived, 
the  advocates  were  at  their  bench,  when  an  order  from  the 
praetor  arrives  which  breaks  up  the  sitting.  We  are  sent  off, 
to  my  great  satisfaction,  for  I  am  never  so  well  prepared  that  a 
delay  does  not  please  me. 

It  would  be  an  exaggeration  to  claim  that  Pliny  was  a 
courageous  orator,  like  the  men  of  the  ancient  republic.  His  firmness. 
His  good  soul,  endowed  with  the  ordinary  virtues,  did 
not  know  heroism.  But  on  several  occasions  at  least  he 
exhibited  a  certain  firmness.  When  Nerva  succeeded 
Domitian,  some  good  men  conceived  the  idea  of 
avenging  the  public  honor  by  prosecuting  the  wretches 
who  had  been  the  instigators  or  the  accomplices  of  the 
crimes  perpetrated  in  the  preceding  reign.  Pliny 
attacked  the  informer  Publicius  Certus,  the  murderer 
of  Helvidius  Priscus,  Thrasea's  son-in-law.  He  was 
blamed  for  this  audacity.  Certus  was  about  to  be 
consul  ;  he  had  the  advantage  of  a  large  fortune  and 
powerful  friends.  The  senators  before  whom  his- case 


142  Roman  Life  in  Pliny 's   Time. 

was  to  be  brought  up  had  almost  all  personal  relations 
e1511  °^  some  kind  with  him.  In  spite  of  everything,  in 
spite  of  advice,  in  spite  of  the  anxiety  of  his  friends, 
Pliny  persisted  in  his  purpose.  He  had  some  difficulty 
in  overcoming  the  opposition  of  his  audience  suffi- 
ciently to  begin  and  continue  his  speech.  He  reaped, 
however,  the  reward  of  his  noble  determination,  for 
he  completely  won  over  his  hearers.  When  he  had 
finished  speaking,  ' '  there  was  scarce  a  man  in  the 
senate,"  as  he  says  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  that  did  not 
embrace  and  kiss  me,  and  all  strove  who  should 
applaud  me  most,  for  having  with  the  utmost  hazard 
to  myself  .  .  .  wiped  off  that  odium  which  was 
thrown  upon  the  senate  by  the  other  orders  in  the 
state  '  that  the  senators  mutually  favored  the  members 
of  their  own  body. '  ' 

The  qualities  in  Pliny's  character  which  such  conduct 

Pliny's  success.  •  ^ 

on  his  part  illustrates  won  for  him  much  respect,  and 
this  explains  in  some  degree  his  success  as  an  advocate. 
This  success  was  very  marked  ;  he  has  not  failed  to 
tell  us  so  himself,  and  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  his 
testimony.  His  vanity  was  great,  but  it  did  not  prevent 
him  from  telling  the  truth. 

Pliny  spoke  five  times  before  the  senate,  either  as  a 
defender  or  as  a  prosecutor,  in  those  solemn  debates 
presided  over  by  the  consul,  and  the  consul  was  often 
the  emperor  ;  he  impeached  Baebius  Massa  under 
Domitian,  and  under  Trajan,  Marius  Priscus  and  Cae- 
Caseswon  cilius  Classicus.  He  defended  Julius  Bassus  and  Va- 
renus.  He  counted  among  his  clients  two  provinces, 
Africa  and  Baetica.  Like  another  Cicero,  he  secured 
the  condemnation  of  another  Verres.  On  each  of  these 
occasions  he  won  his  case,  and,  what  was  more  im- 
portant, the  speeches  he  made  added  to  his  reputation. 


The  Bar.  143 

However,  his  true  sphere  of  activity  was  not  before 
the  senate,  but  in  the  centumviral  court.  Here  he  ™courtUmv'~ 
found  himself  master,  and  without  a  rival.  The  cen- 
tum virs  were  a  permanent  court,  established  under  the 
republic,  at  a  date  which  we  cannot  fix.  The  members 
were  originally  elected  in  equal  numbers  from  each 
tribe,  but  there  were  not  always  exactly  one  hundred  of 
them  as  the  word  centumvirs.  (the  Latin  centumviri 
means  one  hundred  men)  seems  to  imply  ;  for  Pliny,  in 
his  time,  counts  one  hundred  and  eighty  sitting  at 
once.  The  centumvirs  were  divided  into  four  sections, 
or  sub-courts,  and  we  learn  from  Quintilian  and  from 
Pliny  that  cases  were  brought  sometimes  before  two 
sections,  sometimes  before  the  four  united  sections, 
although  each  one  voted  separately.  We  do  not  know 
the  reason  for  this  division. 

The  centumvirs,  after  the  time  of  Augustus,  were 
presided  over  by  judicial  decemvirs.  Their  jurisdiction 
was  limited  to  civil  suits,  especially  such  as  related  to 
inheritance  and  property.  They  met,  first  in  the  forum, 
and  afterward  in  the  Basilica  Julia. 

The  latter  place  was  the  scene  of  Pliny's  eloquence. 
We  must  not,  in  imagination,  reduce  these  Roman  The  basilicas, 
basilicas  to  the  narrow  dimensions  of  our  modern  court- 
rooms. They  were  vast  quadrangular  halls,  longer,  by 
one  half  or  two  thirds,  than  they  were  wide  ;  and  their 
interiors  were  divided  by  rows  of  pillars  into  a  main 
nave  and  two  side  aisles.  Over  the  side  aisles,  whose 
ceiling  was  not  so  high  as  that  of  the  nave,  was  a 
gallery  for  spectators.  On  the  days  when  Pliny  was  to 
speak  the  gallery  of  the  Basilica  Julia  was  not  large 
enough  to  contain  the  audience,  which  was,  moreover,  audVences. 
as  select  as  it  was  numerous  ;  for,  as  Pliny  tells  us,  the 
society  ladies  and  the  men  of  quality  were  not  afraid  to 


144  Roman  Life  in  Pliny*  s   Time, 

come  and  crowd  together  there  at  the  risk  of  having 
their  cloaks  and  tunics  torn. 

But  Pliny,  even  in  the  midst  of  such  favorable  sur- 

f0rmeXa^vo-f         roundings,  where  he  was  able  to  gratify  his  self-love  by 

winning  splendid   triumphs,   was   not  wholly  satisfied. 

He  did  not  feel  that  his  causes  were  always  worthy  of 

him,  and  he  was  annoyed  by  the  use  of  the  clepsydra. 

Certain  advocates  had  abused  the  patience  of  their 
audience  and  the  judges  ;  as  they  never  wearied  them- 
selves, they  were  convinced  that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  them  to  weary  anybody  else.  So  they  would  enter 
into  interminable  digressions  on  irrelevant  subjects. 
Such  was  the  advocate  whose  client  thus  complains  in 
an  epigram  of  Martial's  (we  use  a  translation  by  John 
Hay,  who  substitutes  for  events  in  Roman  history  more 
familiar  events  in  English  history) : 

My  cause  concerns  nor  battery  nor  treason  ; 

I  sue  my  neighbor  for  this  only  reason, 

That  late  three  sheep  of  mine  to  pound  he  drove  ; 

This  is  the  point  the  court  would  have  you  prove. 

Concerning  Magna  Charta  you  run  on, 

And  all  the  perjuries  of  old  King  John  ; 

Then  of  the  Edwards  and  Black  Prince  you  rant, 

And  talk  of  John  o'  Stiles  and  John  o'  Gaunt  ; 

With  voice  and  hand  a  mighty  pother  keep. 

Now,  pray,  dear  sir,  one  word  about  the  sheep. 

The  object  of  the  clepsydra  was  to  prevent  this  ex- 
cessive overflow  of  talk.  The  clepsydra  was  a  little 

The  clepsydra.  i        «M 

vase  which  resembled  a  funnel.  Through  the  tapering 
extremity  the  water,  with  which  the  vase  had  been 
filled,  flowed  away  drop  by  drop,  thus  affording  a 
method  of  measuring  time.  Under  the  empire  a  clepsy- 
dra, placed  beside  the  orator,  limited  the  duration  of 
his  plea.  According  to  the  importance  of  the  cause, 
the  orator  was  allowed  two,  three,  or  even  more  clepsy- 


146  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s    Time. 

drae.     When  Pliny  impeached  Marius  Priscus,  he  was 

granted  as  many  as  ten.     That  was  good  measure,  and 

he  had  no  reason  to  complain.      But  some  poor  talkers, 

TOO  many  no   doubt,    abused   their   privileges.      Martial    has    the 

clepsydrae. 

following  epigram   (the  translation  is  Elphinston's) : 

Seven  glasses,  Cecilian,  thou  loudly  didst  crave  ; 

Seven  glasses  the  judge,  full  reluctantly,  gave. 

Still  thou  bawl'st,  and  bawl'st  on  ;  and,  as  ne'er  to  bawl  off, 

Tepid  water  in  bumpers  supine  dost  thou  quaff. 

That  thy  voice  and  thy  thirst  at  a  time  thou  may'st  slake, 

We  entreat  from  the  glass  of  old  Chronus  thou  take. 

On  account  of  such  abuses  it  became  customary  to 
grant  and  to  ask  only  one  or  two  clepsydrae  for  an 
advocate's  plea,  sometimes  even  only  half  a  clepsydra. 
Pliny  lamented  such  a  custom,  and  blamed  those  im- 
patient advocates  who  devoted  to  a  case  fewer  clepsy- 
dras than  their  ancestors  devoted  days. 

It  was  not  merely  the  interest  of   the  litigant  that 
PHny's  method    inspired  Pliny  with  such  sentiments.     He  experienced  a 

of  pleading.  r 

difficulty  in  pleading  according  to  the  methods  which 
he  had  adopted,  when  he  felt  that  his  time  was  meas- 
ured out  to  him.  In  order  to  carry  conviction  into  the 
minds  of  the  judges,  he  was  convinced  that  it  was  not 
sufficient  to  aim  right  and  strike  hard  ;  he  believed  that 
it  was  necessary  also  to  strike  often. 

I  remember  [he  writes,  in  one  of  his  letters]  when  Regulus 
and  I  were  concerned  together  in  a  cause,  he  said  to  me, 
"You  seem  to  think  it  necessary  to  insist  upon  every  point ; 
whereas  I  always  take  aim  at  my  adversary's  throat,  and  there 
Pliny  and  Reg-  I  closely  press  him."  ('Tis  true,  he  tenaciously  holds  what- 
ever part  he  has  once  fixed  upon  ;  but  the  misfortune  is,  he  is 
extremely  apt  to  mistake  the  right  place.)  I  answered,  it 
might  possibly  happen  that  what  he  took  for  what  he  called 
the  throat  was  in  reality  some  other  part.  As  for  me,  said  I, 
who  do  not  pretend  to  direct  my  aim  with  so  much  certainty,  I 


The  Bar.  147 

attack  every  part,  and  push  at  every  opening  ;  in  short,  to  use 
a  vulgar  proverb,  I  leave  no  stone  unturned.  As  in  agricul- 
ture, it  is  not  my  vineyards,  or  my  woods  alone,  but  my 
fields  also  that  I  cultivate  ;  and  (to  pursue  the  allusion)  as  I 
do  not  content  myself  with  sowing  those  fields  with  only  one 
kind  of  grain  but  employ  several  different  sorts,  so  in  my 
pleadings  at  the  bar,  I  spread  at  large  a  variety  of  matter  like 
so  many  different  seeds,  in  order  to  reap  from  thence  what- 
ever may  happen  to  hit. 

Pliny   complained    also    that   in    this    Basilica    Julia, 

J  Pliny  s  advtr- 

which  had  been  the  scene  of  his  triumphs,  he  did  not  wries  unworthy 

of  him. 

always  meet  adversaries  who  were  worthy  of  him. 
Debutants,  beardless  young  men,  scarcely  out  of  the 
schoolroom,  would  unceremoniously  obtain  admittance 
to  the  bar.  And  as  they  were  as  vain  as  they  were 
presumptuous,  they  were  determined  to  succeed,  no 
matter  how.  Not  being  able  to  depend  upon  their 
intelligence  and  their  talent,  they  fell  back  upon  hired 
applauders.  Pliny  refers  to  this  in  one  of  his  letters  : 

The  youth  of  our  days  are  so  far  from  waiting  to  be  intro- 
duced, that  they  rudely  rush  in  uninvited.  The  audience  that  applauders. 
follows  them  are  fit  attendants  for  such  orators  ;  a  low  rout  of 
hired  mercenaries,  assembling  themselves  in  the  middle  of 
the  court,  where  the  dole  is  dealt  round  to  them  as  openly  as 
if  they  were  in  a  dining-room  ;  and  at  this  noble  price  they 
run  from  court  to  court  !  The  Greeks  have  a  name  in  their 
language  for  this  sort  of  people,  importing  that  they  are 
applauders  by  profession ;  and  we  stigmatize  them  with  the 
opprobrious  title  of  table  flatterers  ;  yet  the  meanness  alluded 
to  in  both  languages  increases  every  day.  It  was  but  yester- 
day two  of  my  servants,  mere  striplings,  were  hired  for  this 
goodly  office  at  the  price  of  three  denarii  [about  50  cents]  ; 
such  is  the  easy  purchase  of  eloquence  !  Upon  these  honor- 
able terms  we  fill  our  benches  and  gather  a  circle  ;  and  thus  it 
is  those  unmerciful  shouts  are  raised  when  a  man  who  stands 
in  the  middle  of  the  ring  gives  the  word.  For  you  must 
know,  these  honest  fellows,  who  understand  nothing  of  what 
is  said,  or  if  they  did  could  not  hear  it,  would  be  at  a  loss, 


148  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s  Time. 

without  a  signal,  how  to  time  their  applause  ;  for  those  that  do 
not  hear  a  syllable  are  as  clamorous  as  any  of  the  rest.  If  at 
any  time  you  should  happen  to  pass  by  while  the  court  is 
sitting,  and  would  know  the  merit  of  any  of  our  advocates, 
you  have  no  occasion  to  give  yourself  the  trouble  of  listening 
to  them  ;  take  it  for  a  rule,  he  that  has  the  loudest  commenda- 
tions deserves  them  the  least.  Largius  Licinius  was  the  first 
who  gave  rise  to  this  custom  ;  but  then  he  went  no  further 
Decline  of  than  to  s0^0^  an  audience.  I  remember  to  have  heard  my 

eloquence.  tutor  Quintilian  say  that  Domitius  Afer,  as  he  was  pleading 

before  the  centumvirs,  with  his  usual  grave  and  solemn 
manner,  heard  on  a  sudden  a  most  immoderate  and  unusual 
noise  ;  being  a  good  deal  surprised  he  left  off;  the  clamor 
ceased  and  he  began  again ;  he  was  interrupted  a  second 
time,  and  a  third.  At  last  he  inquired  who  it  was  that  was 
speaking.  He  was  told  Licinius.  "Alas'!"  said  he,  "Elo- 
quence is  no  more  !  "  The  truth  is,  it  then  only  began  to 
decline,  when,  in  Afer's  opinion,  it  was  entirely  perished ; 
whereas  now  it  is  almost  utterly  lost  and  extinct.  I  am 
ashamed  to  say  with  what  an  unmanly  elocution  the  orators 
deliver  themselves  and  with  what  a  squeaking  applause  they 
are  received  ;  nothing  seems  wanting  to  complete  this  sing- 
song oratory  but  the  claps,  or  rather  the  music,  of  the  stage. 
At  present  we  choose  to  express  our  admiration  by  a  kind  of 
howling  (for  I  can  call  it  by  no  other  term)  which  would  be 
indecent  even  in  the  theater.  Hitherto  the  interest  of  my 
friends  and  the  consideration  of  my  early  time  of  life  has 
retained  me  in  this  court ;  for  it  would  be  thought,  I  fear, 
rather  to  proceed  from  indolence  than  a  just  indignation  at 
these  indecencies  were  I  yet  to  leave  it  ;  however  I  come 
there  less  frequently  than  usual,  and  am  thus  making  a 
gradual  retreat. 

Considering  the  way  in  which   the   tribunal   of   the 
Lack  of  culture  centumvirs  was  made  up,  we  presume  that  Pliny  had 

among  the  ,  .  .  1-111 

triumvirs.  another  grievance  against  them  which  he  has  not  ex- 
pressed. These  men,  chosen  from  each  tribe,  could 
scarcely  have  been  cultured  men.  Their  taste  was 
doubtless  somewhat  crude.  How  could  they  appre- 
ciate all  the  fine  points  in  the  elocution  of  this  accom- 


The  Bar.  149 

plished  man  of  letters  ?     Pliny,  in  fact,  spent  as  much 

care  upon  the  style  of  his  orations  as  upon  the  subject 

matter.     He  read  and  reread  the  great  models  :  Cicero, 

whose  harmonious  periods  and  large  manner  of  treat-  Pliny's  models. 

ment   he   imitated  ;   and    Demosthenes,    the   secret   of 

whose  vehemence  and  figures  he  tried  to  catch.     But 

he  was  not  satisfied  to  limit  himself  to  the  simplicity  of 

these  men.     He  could  not  deny  himself  the  pleasure  of 

plucking  some  flowers  from  the  roadside  as  he  passed 

along   his   way.      It   was   not   without   its   effect   upon 

Pliny  that  Seneca  had  been   his  predecessor  in  Latin 

letters.     Pliny  could  not  resist  the  seduction  of  Seneca's 

attractive  faults.      His  taste,  which  was  not  bad,  lacked 

severity,    and    he    could    not    refrain    from   ambitious 

,  ....  ,          Pliny's  ornate 

attempts,  he  could  not  avoid  seeking  expressions  that  style  in  com- 
were  rare,  curious,  or  bold,  and  if  he  was  criticised  for  p 
this,  he  would  defend  himself,  formally,  after  his  fashion. 
See   how   he   replies  to  Lupercus,  who   had   probably 
passed  some  criticism  upon  him  : 

I  said  once  (and  I  think  not  improperly)  of  a  certain  orator 
of  the  present  age,  whose  compositions  are  extremely  regular 
and  correct,  but  by  no  means  sublime  and  ornamented,  "  His 
only  fault  is,  that  he  has  none."  Whereas  he  who  is  possessed 
of  the  true  spirit  of  oratory  should  be  bold  and  elevated,  and 
sometimes  even  flame  out  and  be  hurried  away  with  all  the 
warmth  and  violence  of  passion ;  in  short,  he  should  fre- 
quently soar  to  great,  and  even  dangerous  heights  ;  for 
precipices  are  generally  near  whatever  is  towering  and 
exalted.  The  plain,  'tis  true,  affords  a  safer,  but  for  that  fj'j^'^culf 
reason  a  more  humble  and  inglorious  path  ;  they  that  run  are 
more  likely  to  stumble  than  they  that  creep,  but  the  latter 
gain  no  honor  by  not  slipping,  while  the  former  even  fall  with 
glory.  It  is  with  eloquence  as  with  some  other  arts  ;  she  is 
never  more  pleasing  than  when  she  hazards  most.  Have  you 
not  observed  what  acclamations  our  rope-dancers  excite  at  the 
instant  of  imminent  danger  ?  Whatever  is  most  unexpected 
and  hazardous,  or,  as  the  Greeks  strongly  express  it,  what- 


150  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time, 

ever  is  most  daring,  has  always  the  greatest  share  of  our 
admiration.     The  pilot's  skill  is  by  no  means  equally  proved 
in  a  calm  as  in  a  storm  ;  in  the  former  case  he  tamely  enters 
the  port,  unnoticed  and  unapplauded ;  but  when  the  cordage 
cracks,  the  mast  bends,  and  the  rudder  groans,  then  is  it  that 
he  shines  forth  in  full  luster,  and  is  adored  as  little  inferior  to  a 
sea-god.     The  reason  of  my  making  this  observation  is,  be- 
cause, if  I  mistake  not,  you  have  marked  some  passages  in 
Distinction          m^  w"tmgs  f°r  being  tumid,   exorbitant,   and  overwrought, 
between  true        which  in  my  estimation  are  full  and  bold  and  sublime.     But  it 
grandeur  in         is  material  to  consider  whether  your  criticism  turns  upon  such 

literary  com-        points  as  are  real    faults,   or  only  striking  and  remarkable 
position. 

expressions.     Whatever  is  elevated  is  sure  to  be  observed, 

but  it  requires  a  very  nice  judgment  to  distinguish  the  bounds 
between  true  and  false  grandeur,  between  a  just  and  enormous 
height.  We  select  an  instance  out  of  Homer,  both  of  the 
grand  and  elevated  style,  in  the  following  lines  ;  which  can 
scarce,  I  imagine,  have  escaped  any  reader's  observation  : 

"  Heaven  in  loud  thunder  bids  the  trumpet  sound  ; 
And  wide  beneath  them  groans  the  rending  ground." 

Again  : 

"  Reclined  on  clouds  his  steed  and  armor  lay." 

So  in  this  whole  passage  : 

"  As  torrents  roll,  increased  by  numerous  rills, 
With  rage  impetuous  down  their  echoing  hills, 
Rush  to  the  vales,  and  poured  along  the  plain, 
Roar  through  a  thousand  channels  to  the  main." 
It  requires,  I  say,  a  very  delicate  hand  to  poise  these  meta- 
phors, and  determine  whether  they  are  too  figurative  and  lofty 
or  truly  majestic  or  sublime. 

What  could  the  triumvirs  appreciate  in  this  eloquence 

secret  of  Pliny's  so  labored,  or,  to  express  it  more  fully,  so  over-refined? 

thl^bkV."  "          How  many  of  the  flowers  must  have  wasted  their  perfume 

upon  them  !    How  many  the  shafts  whose  point  they  never 

felt  !     It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  secret  of  Pliny's 

disgust  with  the  bar,  which  led  him  to  retire  early.     He 

was  to  find  a  public  more  to  his  taste  in  the  lecture  halls, 

where  we  shall  not  delay  in  following  him. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SOCIETY. 

AMONG  us  moderns  family  life  and  public  or  private 

„   .          ,  111  •    •  T-.      •  i         Social  relations. 

aftairs  do  not  engage  a  man  s  whole  activity.  Besides 
the  relations  of  affection  or  of  business  we  have  what  we 
call  social  relations.  They  act  and  react  continually 
upon  our  sentiments  and  our  ideas,  and  no  one  can 
escape  their  influence.  Whatever  we  do,  however 
misanthropic  we  may  be,  we  are  compelled  to  take 
them  into  consideration. 

In  the  ancient  cities  social  life  held,  it  is  true,  a  less 
important  place  than  in  our  modern  communities,  but 
we  must  not  suppose  that  it  occupied  no  place.  We 
might  almost  fix  the  date  when  society  began  to  crystal-  crystallization 
lize  at  Rome.  We  are  certainly  safe  in  saying  that  ofsociet>"- 
when  Greek  manners  and  literature  were  introduced 
into  Italy  social  life  also  awoke  there.  Was  it  not 
almost  a  salon  that  the  younger  Scipio  established  in 
gathering  about  him  so  many  artists,  so  many  lettered 
and  distinguished  men  ?  The  women  who  previously 
had  lived  at  home  in  retirement  now  begin  to  visit  each 
other,  they  go  out  to  dinners  with  their  husbands,  they 
take  an  interest  in  intellectual  matters,  they  have  their 
own  tastes  and  express  them,  and  often  succeed  in 
making  them  generally  respected.  Beginning  from  the 

c     i        /-<  i  •  i   i         >.i  A.    •  •    i    Women  enter 

time  of  the  Gracchi,   women   take  their  part  in  social  society. 
life.     No   argument    is    necessary    in    support   of    this 
statement.      It   is  sufficient  to   recall   the  name  of  the 
mother  of  the  Gracchi  ;  for  we  may  be  sure  that  when 


152 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


Organization 
of  the  imperial 
court. 


women  wield  such  an  influence  as  did  Cornelia,  society 
is  in  existence. 

This  society,  which  had  sprung  up  spontaneously  as 
a   result   of   the   continued    progress   in   refinement   of 

manners,  became 
more  regular  and 
acquired  forms 
more  fixed  and 
definite  as  soon 
as  a  court  was  set 
up  in  Rome. 

The  establish- 
ment of  the  em- 
pire being  in  the 
beginning  noth- 
ing but  the  ele- 
vation of  a  private 
family,  the  organ- 
ization of  the  im- 
perial court  was 
at  first  modeled 
upon  the  pattern 
of  a  wealthy 
household.  But 
soon,  as  absolute 
power  existed  in 
fact,  its  forms  be- 
gan to  appear. 
A  few  emperors 
made  attempts, 
more  or  less  sincere,  to  return  to  the  ancient  simplicity, 
but  notwithstanding  this,  the  court  came  more  and 
more  to  resemble  the  courts  of  the  great  kings  of  other 
ages.  And  the  customs  and  tastes  which  reigned  in 


A  ROMAN  MATRON. 


Society.  153 

the  court  were  adopted  by   the  high    Roman  society. 

Docile  subjects  [said  Pliny,  in  his  panegyric  on  Trajan],  we 
are  led  by  our  prince  wherever  he  pleases,  and  we  follow  him 
unquestioningly.  For  we  desire  to  be  loved  and  approved  by  The  emperor 

,  .  ,    ,,  ,  ...        ,  .  ,  .        imitated  by  his 

him,  and  those  who  are  not  like  him  cannot  succeed  m  this,  subjects. 
It  is  through  such  eternal  compliance  that  it  has  come  about 
that  nearly  all  men  live  after  the  fashion  of  one  man.  .  .  . 
The  life  of  the  emperor  is  a  censorship,  and  that,  too,  a 
perpetual  one.  We  look  toward 'his  life  for  our  model,  we 
copy  it.  We  do  not  need  commands,  the  example  is  sufficient. 

And  this  was  not  the  result  of  the  personal  influence 
of  Trajan  ;  the  worst  emperors  wielded  the  same  power. 
"  Sovereigns  who  love  music,"  said  Plutarch,  "  make 
musicians."  And  the  poet  Claudianus  later  expressed 
this  same  truth  in  the  famous  verse  : 

All  men  delight  to  imitate  their  king. 
Such  dependence  upon  a  ruler   for  inspiration  and 

Reasons  for 

guidance  in   intellectual   matters  may  not  seem   to  be  copying  court 

J  etiquette. 

justified  by  good  reasons.  Certainly  there  are  stronger 
reasons  for  imitating  the  etiquette  and  ceremonial  of  the 
court.  In  the  first  place,  it  saves  trouble,  and  then 
society  knows  what  to  count  upon.  In  order  to  exist 
at  all  it  must  have  forms.  The  more  definite  these 
forms  are,  the  easier  is  social  life.  And  if  social  life  is 
tending  constantly  to  disappear  in  the  democratic 
atmosphere  of  to-day,  is  it  not  because  these  forms 
were  broken  down  by  the  French  Revolution  ? 

Let  us  seek,  then,  to  show  the  nature  of  the  hier- 
archy and  the  ceremonial  of  the  imperial  court.  Under  The  hierarchy 

...  111  i  •    r      of  the  court. 

the  republic,  when  statesmen  had  become  party  chiefs 
they  tried  to  organize  their  followers.  C.  Gracchus 
and  Livius  Drusus  are  the  first  who  divided  their 
partisans  into  three  classes.  Those  of  the  first  class 
were  received  into  their  chief's  circle  of  intimate  friends, 


154  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time, 

'  and  they  were  invited  by  him  to  attend  his  smallest  and 
most  exclusive  receptions  ;  those  of  the  second  class 
were  admitted  to  larger  social  gatherings  ;  those  of  the 
third  class  were  allowed  to  be  present  only  at  his 
public  functions.  The  Romans  called  these  three 
classes,  respectively,  friends  of  the  first,  second,  or 
third  admission.  The  emperors  remembered  this  di- 
Friendsofthe  vision  and  imposed  it  upon  their  courtiers.  In  the  first 

first  and  second  * 

admission.  two  classes  were  the  principal  senators,  the  consuls, 
and  ex-consuls,  those  connected  with  the  royal  house 
by  blood  or  by  marriage,  and  a  few  other  very  promi- 
nent men,  or  men  much  in  favor  with  the  emperor,  like 
Lucian  under  Nero.  They  might  be  called  into  the 
councils  of  the  empire,  might  exercise  a  political  influ- 
ence, or  acquire  by  reason  of  their  constant  relations 
with  the  emperor  an  occult  but  very  formidable  power. 
So  the  choice  of  friends  of  the  first  and  second  admis- 
sion was  an  act  of  the  greatest  importance.  As  it  was 
they  chiefly  who  formed  the  train  of  the  emperor  upon 
his  travels  and  campaigns,  they  were  called  his  cohort, 
and  were  given  the  title  comites  (companions),  from 
which  our  word  count  is  derived. 

As  to  the  friends  of  the  third  class,  whose  role  was 

thVrTadmis-116  naturally  less  important,  they  were  drawn  from  among 
the  artists,  scholars,  and  poets.  Professional  jesters, 
also,  belonged  to  this  class.  Although  their  position 
was  subordinate,  a  small  number  of  the  friends  of  the 
third  admission  by  their  attractive  personality  or  by  the 
dignity  of  their  character  won  a  large  share  of  the 
imperial  favor.  Among  these  fortunate  few  under 

Areius  Augustus  was  the   philosopher  Areius  of   Alexandria, 

who  obtained  for  his  compatriots  the  clemency  of  the 
emperor  after  the  battle  of  Actium  ;   under  Trajan  Dion 

£hrysostom.        Chrysostom,    who   was   seen    more   than    once   in   the 


Society.  155 

emperor's  carriage  ;  and  Pronto  under  Marcus  Aure- 
lius.  Several  court  jesters  received  similar  favors  ; 
under  Nero  Vatinius  was  all-powerful.  His  ascendency  vatinius. 
had  a  rather  curious  origin  ;  what  had  called  the 
emperor's  attention  to  him  was  the  enormous  length 
of  his  nose  ;  in  fact,  so  remarkable  was  this  feature  of 
his  countenance  that  a  certain  kind  of  drinking  cup 
which  had  a  nozzle  bore  the  name  of  Vatinius.  This 
third  class  was  bound  by  very  stringent  obligations. 
They  were  required  to  live  in  the  palace,  where  special 
apartments  were  reserved  for  their  use.  It  may  easily 
be  imagined  what  a  sense  of  dependence  such  an 
arrangement  would  naturally  create. 

The  ceremonial  was  not  less  inflexible  than  the  hier- 
archy. 

Louis  XIV.  used  to  hold  early  morning  receptions,  a 

•      •  c  Louis  XIV.'s 

small  one  for  his  most  intimate  friends,  followed  by  a  morning  re- 
larger,   more  general  one.     The  Roman  emperors  had 
not  devised  this  distinction,   but  they  had  their  early 
reception,  which  was  called  the  morning  salutation. 

This  ceremony  commenced  at  dawn.  Regular  attend- 
ance upon  it  constituted  for  the  most  intimate  friends  at  The  nwminjr 

salutation. 

first  a  privilege,  but  afterward  a  duty  which  could  not 
be  neglected  except  for  a  more  important  engagement. 
Upon  all  occasions  when  congratulations  were  in  order 
and  upon  all  formal  celebrations  the  senate  in  a 
body  attended  this  reception.  Sometimes  the  emperor 
opened  the  doors  of  his  palace  to  the  knights,  and  even 
to  persons  of  no  rank,  if  they  were  well  recommended, 
or  if  they  had  petitions  to  present. 

Outside  the  palace,  an  entire  cohort  of  praetorians,  a 
thousand  men,  mounted  guard  regularly,  and  there  was 
almost  always  a  detachment  at  the  entrance.  These 
soldiers  were  supposed  to  keep  out  suspicious  char- 


156 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s    Time. 


The  admission- 
ales. 


acters,  and  sometimes  even  to  search  those  who  solicited 
an  audience.  At  the  time  of  Claudius,  who  was  very 
cowardly,  no  one  could  be  admitted  to  the  presence  of 
the  prince  without  being  subjected  to  this  annoying 
process.  In  the  interior  of  the  palace  there  was  a  body 
of  servants  to  maintain  order  and  to  announce  and 
show  in  visitors.  These  ushers  were  called  admission- 
ales.  The  difficulties  of  gaining  admission  varied  much 
according  to  the  character  of  the  emperor.  In  order 


Easy  access 
to  Trajan. 


ATRIUM  OF  THE  POMPEIIAN  HOUSE  AT  SARATOGA  SPRINGS,  N.  Y. 
Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect. 

to  approach  a  Domitian  it  was  necessary  to  pass  all 
sorts  of  guards  ;  for  one  who  wished  to  see  Trajan  the 
doors  opened  of  themselves. 

Here  [Pliny  says,  speaking  of  Trajan's  palace]  no  bolts,  no 
excruciating  ordeal  to  be  passed ;  when  you  have  once 
crossed  the  threshold,  you  do  not  find  a  thousand  doors,  and 


Society.  157 

beyond  these  other  doors  which  remain  closed,  or  at  least 
obstruct  your  progress.  Before,  and  behind,  but  especially 
around  you,  profound  silence.  Everything  is  done  without 
noise  and  with  all  possible  deference,  so  that  upon  returning 
to  your  modest  little  dwelling  you  have  an  impression  that  the 
imperial  palace  is  a  model  of  calm  and  of  simplicity. 

At'these  receptions  the  toga  was  the  required  dress, 

Dress  required 

as  well  for  the  emperor  as  for  his  visitors.  Some  at  receptions, 
emperors  tried  to  introduce  a  change  in  the  matter  of 
costume.  Nero  one  day  dressed  himself  in  a  flowered 
tunic  to  receive  the  senate,  but  his  audacity  was  the 
occasion  of  unfavorable  comment.  "He  had  even," 
said  Dion  Cassius,  "  such  a  contempt  for  tradition  that 
he  would  appear  in  public  with  his  tunic  flowing  loose 
without  a  belt."  We  see  that  the  tyranny  of  official 
costume  had  begun  to  be  felt.  An  emperor  who  gave 
audience  without  the  toga  shocked  the  Romans,  as 
much  as  we  should  be  shocked  to  learn  that  an  officer 
of  state  dressed  in  slippers  and  frock  coat  had  formally 
received  ambassadors. 

The  friends,    those  of   the  first  class  at  least,    were 

....  „  .          Greetings  be- 

greeted  by  the  emperor  with  a  kiss.     Such  a  salutation  tween  emperor 

and  subjects. 

was  customary  between  equals  at  Rome  from  the 
establishment  of  the  empire.  Tiberius,  it  is  true,  felt 
that  this  form,  which  had  to  be  observed  so  often,  was  a 
wearisome  duty  and  he  tried  to  escape  from  its  tyranny. 
At  his  departure  for  Rhodes,  when  he  bade  farewell  to 
the  persons  who  were  seeing  him  off,  he  kissed  only  a 
few  of  them.  But  this  reserve  was  considered  a  proof 
of  his  excessive  pride.  Some  emperors  tried  to  intro- 
duce into  the  ceremonial  certain  customs  from  the 
oriental  courts.  Caligula  had  his  feet  kissed  ;  Elaga- 
balus  tried  to  require  the  forms  of  respect  which  the 
king  of  Persia  received.  But  these  attempted  innova- 
tions were  not  successful,  and  the  kiss  exchanged  be- 


158  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

tween  emperor   and   subject-friend    remained    the    cus- 
tomary greeting. 

If  we  consider  the  crowd  of  visitors  and  solicitors 
uUon7henem>-Sed  W'1Q  eagerly  sought  the  presence  of  the  prince,  and  his 
receptions'8  obligation  to  speak  a  few  words  to  the  persons  of 
distinction,  we  can  realize  how  prolonged  his  recep- 
tions probably  were.  They  must  have  been  among  the 
most  disagreeable  duties  belonging  to  the  highest  rank. 
They  tested  the  sovereign's  patience,  and  sometimes 
even  imperiled  his  health.  Antoninus  Pius,  in  his  old 
age,  could  scarcely  endure  the  fatigue  which  they 
occasioned,  and  he  used  to  fortify  himself  by  a  light 
repast  before  receiving. 

We  may  be  sure  also  that  it  was  no  small  tedium 
Annoyances  to    tnat  the  courtiers  had  to  endure  while  awaiting  their 

which  courtiers 

were  subjected,  turn  in  the  vestibule  of  the  palace  where  a  suffocating 
crowd  was  gathered.  But  this  was  nothing  compared 
to  the  anxiety  and  torment  of  every  kind  to  which  they 
were  often  exposed.  Epictetus  has  drawn  for  us  a 
picture  of  what  they  had  to  suffer,  a  little  too  highly 
colored  perhaps,  but  correct  in  its  main  features  : 

They  are  not  even  allowed  to  sleep  in  peace  ;  but  they  are 
awakened  early  by  the  news  that  the  emperor  has  arisen,  that 
he  is  about  to  appear.  At  once  they  become  anxious.  If 
they  are  not  invited  to  the  table  of  the  emperor  they  are 
mortified.  If  they  are  guests  at  his  table,  they  dine  like 
slaves  with  their  master,  constantly  on  guard  against  com- 
mitting some  impropriety.  And  what  are  they  afraid  of? 
Being  whipped  like  slaves  ?  That  would  be  getting  off  easily. 
No  ;  they  are  afraid  of  exposing  their  heads,  of  being  obliged 
even  to  lay  them  down  with  the  dignity  becoming  to  friends  of 
the  emperor.  Even  when  at  a  distance  from  the  emperor, 
and  engaged  in  physical  exercise,  their  minds  are  never 
tranquil.  In  short,  who  can  be  so  obtuse,  or  who  can  so  de- 
ceive himself,  as  not  to  perceive  that  his  lot  is  all  the  more 
wretched,  the  more  he  is  received  into  the  emperor's  friendship. 


Society.  1 59 

But  this  misery  was  so  brilliant  that  everybody  had 

the  ambition  to  experience  it,  and  when  a  person  had  The  unquench- 
able ambition 

once  experienced  it,  no  matter  how  bitter  he  found  it,  of  courtiers, 
he  could  not  resolve  to  give  it  up.  A  great  person, 
Epictetus  recounts,  had  the  misfortune  of  falling  into 
disgrace  with  the  prince,  and  he  was  exiled.  When 
the  time  of  his  banishment  had  expired,  and  he  had 
returned  to  Rome,  "It  is  all  over,"  he  said  to  the 
philosopher.  "May  I  be  shamed  if  ever  again  I  place 
myself  at  his  feet."  "You  will  change  your  mind," 
Epictetus  returned.  The  other  protested  very  strongly 
that  his  resolution  was  unshakable.  The  next  day  a 
note  from  the  emperor  recalled  him  to  his  service. 
The  courtiers  of  all  times  resemble  each  other.  Epic- 
tetus only  described  in  advance  one  of  La  Bruyere's 
characters. 

Two  thirds  of  my  life  have  passed  ;  why  be  so  anxious 
about  the  remaining  portion  ?  The  most  brilliant  fortune  is  La  Bruyere's. 
not  worth  the  torment  which  I  inflict  upon  myself,  nor  the 
pettiness  to  which  I  stoop,  nor  the  humiliations  and  shame 
which  I  endure.  .  .  .  The  greatest  of  all  our  blessings,  if 
there  are  any  blessings,  is  repose,  retirement,  and  a  place 

which  we  can  regard  as  our  domain.     R thought  so  in  his 

disgrace,  but  forgot  it  in  his  prosperity. 

f 

The  actors  may  change  ;  the  comedy  remains  the  same. 

The  wealthy   families  which,   as  we  have  said,    had   in  a  wealthy 
furnished  the  pattern  for  the  court  ceremonial  in  their 
turn  copied  it  when  it  had  been  added  to  and  enriched 
by  the  emperors. 

The  receptions  in  a  patrician  household,  as  at  the 
imperial  palace,  began  at  dawn.  Clients  and  visitors 
mingled  on  these  occasions  and  the  mixture  must  have 
been  very  picturesque.  Clients  were  usually  poor 
people.  Many  of  them  wore  soiled  togas  and  patched 


160  Roman  Life  in  Pliny"  s   Time. 

shoes.  While  waiting  outdoors  for  admittance,  they 
would  stand  along  the  house  wall,  in  winter  impatient 
for  the  sun  to  rise  and  warm  them,  and  in  summer 
grumbling  because  it  made  them  perspire  under  their 
togas — all  the  while  disputing  their  place  with  the  dogs 
and  the  slaves.  And  near  them  would  be  a  rich 
knight,  a  grave  senator,  who  had  been  brought  in  his 

Beggars,  rich      sedan-chair,  carried  by  slaves  in  red  robes.     The  house- 
ana  poor.  * 

porter,  armed  with  a  rod,  was  stationed  at  the  entrance, 
and  in  order  to  gain  admittance  it  was  usually  necessary 
to  purchase  his  good  graces.  Many  poor  people  were 
sent  rudely  away,  and  if  a  few  entered  gratis,  it  was  that 
the  master's  vanity  might  be  satisfied  by  seeing  a  long 
procession  of  his  clients.  They  would  pass,  bowing 
low  before  their  lord,  who  would  return  them  a  disdain- 
ful nod.  Then,  after  being  subjected  to  a  minute 
examination,  they  would  receive  from  the  treasurer  the 
ten  sesterces  (about  42  cents),  upon  which  daily  allow- 
ance they  lived.  Meanwhile  the  great  personages  paid 
their  court  to  the  patron  ;  one,  perhaps,  was  aiming  at 
the  consulship,  another  at  a  military  tribuneship,  and 
they  would  beg  their  lord  to  use  his  influence  in  their 
favor.  Altogether  they  were  a  swarm  of  beggars,  and 
Plutarch  fitly  compares  them  to  flies  in  a  kitchen. 

It  was  in  the  morning  also  that  calls  required  by 
fh^e  morning8  °f  politeness  were  made,  and  that  such  duties  were  per- 
formed as  attendance  upon  a  marriage  or  a  betrothal 
ceremony,  upon  the  formal  assumption  of  the  toga  by  a 
boy  when  he  became  of  age,  upon  the  inauguration  of  a 
magistrate,  etc.  Many  were  the  functions  at  which  a 
person  who  had  social  relations  somewhat  extended  was 
expected  to  be  present.  So  the  streets  of  Rome  early 
in  the  morning  offered  a  lively  spectacle  ;  everywhere 
people  hurrying  along,  afraid  of  being  late  where  the 


Society,  1 6 1 

rules  of  etiquette  required  their  presence.  Many  com- 
plained of  the  wearisome  waste  of  time  entailed  by 
these  obligations.  Pliny,  who  was  of  this  number,  writes  : 

When  one  considers  how  the  time  passes  in  Rome,  one 
cannot  but  be  surprised  that  take  any  single  day,  and  it  either  rout?ne1S°me 
is,  or  at  least  seems  to  be,  spent  reasonably  enough  ;  and  yet 
upon  casting  up  the  whole  sum  the  amount  will  appear  quite 
otherwise.  Ask  any  one  how  he  has  been  employed  to-day ; 
he  will  tell  you  perhaps,  "I  have  been  at  the  ceremony  of 
putting  on  the  toga  virilis ;  this  friend  invited  me  to  a 
wedding ;  that  desired  me  to  attend  the  hearing  of  his  case  ; 
one  begged  me  to  be  a  witness  to  his  will  ;  another  called  me 
to  a  consultation."  These  are  things  which  seem,  while  you 
are  engaged  in  them,  extremely  necessary ;  and  yet,  when  in 
the  quiet  of  some  retirement,  you  realize  that  every  day  has 
been  thus  employed,  you  cannot  but  condemn  them  as  mere 
trifles.  At  such  a  season  one  is  apt  to  reflect,  "  How  much  of 
my  life  has  been  spent  in  empty  routine  !"  At  least  it  is  a 
reflection  which  frequently  comes  across  me  at  Laurentum, 
after  I  have  been  employing  myself  in  my  studies,  or  even  in 
the  necessary  care  of  the  animal  machine  ;  for  the  body  must 
be  repaired  and  supported  if  we  would  preserve  the  mind  in 
all  its  vigor.  In  that  peaceful  retreat  I  neither  hear  nor  speak 
anything  of  which  I  have  occasion  to  repent.  I  suffer  none  to  ^1"^  peaceful 
repeat  to  me  the  whispers  of  malice ;  nor  do  I  censure  any 
man,  unless  myself,  when  I  am  dissatisfied  with  my  compo- 
sitions. There  I  live  undisturbed  by  rumor  and  free  from  the 
anxious  solicitudes  of  hope  or  fear,  conversing  only  with 
myself  and  my  books.  True  and  genuine  life  !  pleasing  and 
honorable  repose !  More,  perhaps,  to  be  desired  than  the 
noblest  employments  !  Thou  solemn  sea  and  solitary  shore, 
best  and  most  retired  school  of  art  and  poetry,  with  how 
many  noble  thoughts  have  you  inspired  me  !  Snatch  then, 
my  friend,  as  I  have,  the  first  occasion  of  leaving  the  noisy 
town,  with  all  its  very  empty  pursuits,  and  devote  your  days  to 
study,  or  even  resign  them  to  ease  ;  for  as  my  friend  Attilius 
happily  observed,  "  It  is  better  to  do  nothing  than  to  do 
nothings."  Farewell. 

But  all  did  not  share  this  opinion.     Some  enjoyed 


162 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s    Time. 


The  Ardelions. 


this  busy  idleness,  and  almost  made  a  profession  out  of 
it,  so  that  they  came  to  be  considered  a  distinct  class, 
as  it  were,  in  society,  and  received  a  special  name. 
They  were  called  Ardelions,  or  busybodies. 

Phaedrus  and  Seneca  make  us  acquainted  with  these 
singular  persons  : 

There  exist  at  Rome  a  certain  tribe  called  Ardelions,  hurry- 
ing about  anxiously  here  and  there,  always  busy  with  their 
idleness,  getting  out  of  breath  over  trifles,  doing  many  things 
yet  doing  nothing,  burdensome  to  themselves  and  most  offen- 
sive to  others. 

Seneca  compares  them  to  ants  who  pass  up  and  down  a 
tree,  from  root  to  top,  and  from  top  to  root. 


Busy  idleness. 


THE  APPIAN  WAY.    From  a  painting  by  Gustav  Boulanger. 

There  are  people  [he  says]  who  are  driven  from  their  houses 
by  the  dawning  day.  They  only  go  out  to  swell  the  crowd. 
If  stopping  one  of  them  at  his  door  you  should  ask  him, 
"Where  are  you  going?  What  are  your  plans?"  he  would 
reply,  "  By  Hercules,  I  don't  know  ;  but  I  wish  to  make  a  few 


Society.  163 

calls,  to  be  doing  something. "  .  .  .  We  cannot  help  pity 
them  when  we  see  them  running  as  if  they  had  to  put  out  a 
fire.  They  dash  headlong  through  the  streets,  jostling  every- 
body, and  knocking  against  those  whom  they  encounter.  And 
why  such  haste  ?  To  pay  a  call  which  never  will  be  returned, 
to  attend  the  funeral  of  some  stranger,  the  trial  of  some  liti- 
gant's case,  or  the  betrothal  ceremony  of  a  woman  who  marries 
frequently.  When  after  having  traversed  the  whole  city  for 
the  most  futile  motives  they  finally  return  to  their  Penates, 
they  will  swear  to  you  that  they  have  no  recollection  why 
they  went  out,  nor  even  where  they  have  been  ;  which  does 
not  prevent  them  from  repeating  on  the  next  day,  even  more 
frantically,  their  vagabond  wanderings. 

Old  age  might  come  upon  them  ;  no  matter  ;  it  was 
useless  for  Martial  to  declare  that  nothing  was  more 
hideous  than  an  old  Ardelion  —  still  they  would  go 
hurrying  about. 

The   receptions   and   visits  of  which    we   have   been 

1  •  11       c     1  i  -11  j       L        Lack  of  conver- 

speakmg  were  all  of  them  characterized  by  parade,  by  sation. 
publicity.  They  did  not  allow  of  conversation,  which 
with  us  constitutes  the  charm  of  social  life,  and  is,  for 
the  most  part,  its  only  excuse  for  existence.  Where, 
then,  among  the  Romans,  were  the  pleasures  of  con- 
versation tasted  ? 

The  Romans  had  no  such  feature  of  social  life  as  our 

.  The  modern 

modern  salon — a  eatnenngf  01  men  and  women  whose  salon  unknown 

,.  ,.  at  Rome. 

keenest  pleasure  is  to  talk  or  to  listen  according  to 
their  tastes  and  their  talents,  where  you  may  express 
your  opinion  on  everything  if  only  it  does  not  offend 
your  neighbor,  where  wit  is  not  forbidden  provided  you 
have  enough  not  to  have  too  much,  where  feeling  is 
not  banished  if  only  it  is  not  allowed  to  become 
emotion  ; — a  gathering  where  the  people  please  each 
other  without  loving  each  other,  where  they  praise 
without  judging,  where  each  one  is  prudent  enough  to 
bring  only  a  part  of  himself,  where  one  cools  the 


164 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Table  reunions. 


Table  talk. 


Pliny's  letter 
to  Clarus. 


warmth  which  he  has  in  his  soul  and  veils  the  brilliancy 
of  his  intellect,  where  great  qualities  are  not  brought 
into  play,  where  only  amiable  qualities  are  proper. 

But  if  salons  had  no  existence  at  Rome,  table  re- 
unions afforded  a  very  natural  occasion  for  the  pleas- 
ures of  conversation.  Horace  found  that  good  wine 
animated  the  talkers. 

Is  there  a  man  whose  tongue  no  skill  or  power  knows  ? 
He  waxes  eloquent  whene'er  the  bright  wine  flows. 

The  Greeks,  who  had  received  the  gift  of  poesy, 
improvised  songs  at  their  repasts.  The  master  of  the 
house  would  give  a  couplet,  holding  a  branch  of 
myrtle  in  his  hand.  Then,  the  couplet  finished,  he 
would  toss  the  branch  to  one  of  the  guests,  who  upon 
catching  it  was  bound  to  respond  in  some  more  verses. 
The  Romans,  who  were  less  gifted,  were  nevertheless 
intellectual.  If  they  could  not  sing,  they  could  at  least 
talk.  There  was  conversation,  then,  at  those  repasts 
which  Horace  gave  to  his  friends  and  neighbors  in  his 
country  house.  They  would  moralize  a  little,  indulge 
much  in  satire,  and  the  rustic  Ofellus  would  tell  some 
good  story  of  the  time  when  animals  used  to  talk. 
There  was  conversation,  we  learn  from  Horace,  at  the 
house  of  the  advocate  Philip,  who  liked  the  amusement 
of  listening  to  the  simple  chatter  of  the  auctioneer 
Vulteius  Menas.  There  was  conversation,  too,  at 
Pliny's  house,  as  he  tells  us  in  his  letter  reproaching 
his  friend  Septicius  Clarus  for  not  having  come  to  dine 
with  him  : 

How  happened  it,  my  friend,  that  you  did  not  keep  your 
engagement  the  other  night  to  sup  with  me  ?  But  take  notice, 
justice  is  to  be  had,  and  I  expect  you  shall  fully  reimburse  me 
the  expense  I  was  at  to  treat  you  ;  which,  let  me  tell  you,  was 
no  small  sum.  I  had  prepared,  you  must  know,  a  lettuce 


Society. 


165 


apiece,  three  snails,  two  eggs,  and  a  barley  cake,  with  some 
sweet  wine  and  snow  ;  the  snow  most  certainly  I  shall  charge 
to  your  account,  as  a  rarity  that  will  not  keep.  Besides  all 
these  curious  dishes,  there  were  olives  of  Andalusia,  gourds, 
shalots,  and  a  hundred  other  dainties  equally  sumptuous. 
You  should  likewise  have  been  entertained  either  with  an 
interlude,  the  rehearsal  of  a  poem,  or  a  piece  of  music,  as 
you  liked  best ;  or,  such  was  my  liberality,  with  all  three. 
But  the  luxurious  delicacies  and  Spanish  dancers  of  a  certain — 


A  dainty  meal. 


PERISTYLE  OF  THE  POMPKIIAN  HOUSE  AT  SARATOGA  SPRINGS,  N.  V. 
Franklin  VV.  Smith,  architect. 

I  know  not  who,  were,  it  seems,  more  to  your  taste.     How- 
ever,   I  shall  have   my  revenge  of  you,  depend  upon  it — in 
what  manner  shall  at  present  be  a  secret.     In  good  truth,  it 
was  not  kind  thus  to  disappoint  your  friend,  I  had  almost  said 
yourself;   and,  upon  second  thought,  I  do  say  so.     For  how    A  pleasant 
agreeably  should   we   have  spent  the  evening,  in  laughing,    evening, 
trifling,   and  deep  speculation  !     You  may  sup,  I  confess,  at 
many    places    more    splendidly ;    but    you    can    be    treated 
nowhere,  believe  me,  with  more  unconstrained  cheerfulness, 
simplicity,  and  freedom  ;   only  make  the  experiment,  and  if 


1 66 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Great  feasts. 


Southerners 
simple  in  their 
tastes. 


you  do  not  ever  afterward  prefer  my  table  to  any  other,  never 
favor  me  with  your  company  again.     Farewell. 

But  at  those  great  feasts  which  are  so  famous,  there 
was  no  conversation,  because  they  were  only  exhi- 
bitions. However,  as  they  hold  an  important  place  in 
the  social  life  of  the  Romans,  we  must  describe  them  to 
our  readers. 

Let  us  begin  by  saying  that  the  luxury  of  the  Roman 
table  has  been  much  exaggerated,  or,  rather,  that  it  has 
been  represented  as  too  general. 

The  people  of  the  South  are  naturally  simple  in  their 
tastes,  and  the  Romans  were  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
Horace,  who  was  an  Epicurean,  has  given  us  the  menu 
of  his  ordinary  dinner  :  leeks,  gray  peas,  and  a  few 
cakes.  Juvenal,  who  is  inviting  a  friend  to  share  a 
meal  with  him,  details  to  him  his  intended  bill  of  fare  : 

From  Tibur's  stock 

A  kid  shall  come,  the  fattest  of  the  flock, 
The  tenderest  too,  and  yet  too  young  to  browse 
The  thistle's  shoots,  the  willow's  watery  boughs, 
With  more  of  milk  than  blood  ;  and  pullets  dressed 
With  new-laid  eggs,  yet  tepid  from  the  nest, 
And  sperage  wild,  which,  from  the  mountain's  side, 
My  housemaid  left  her  spindle  to  provide  ; 
And  grapes  long  kept,  yet  pulpy  still,  and  fair, 
And  the  rich  Signian  and  the  Syrian  pear  ; 
And  apples,  that  in  flavor  and  in  smell 
The  boasted  Picene  equal,  or  excel. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  the  pullets  and  the  kid  a 
vegetarian  might  have  dined  with  Juvenal  that  evening. 
The  emperor  Hadrian  when  he  was  traveling  limited 
Hadrian's  diet,  his  diet  to  cheese  and  milk  and  he  never  drank  any- 
thing stronger  than  vinegar  mingled  with  water.  We 
know,  moreover,  through  Galen,  the  physician,  that  it 
was  considered  a  mark  of  great  intemperance  to  drink 


Juvenal's 
dinner. 


Society.  167 

pure  wine.     The  Romans  do  not  deserve  any  special 

praise    for    their    simple    appetites,    for    their   climate 

obliged  them  to  eat  lightly.      But  how  shall  we  explain 

the  invectives  hurled  by  the  moralists  against  the  luxury 

of  the  table  ?     Why  should  Seneca  have  attributed  the   prevaience  of 

corruption  of  morals  to  gluttony,  as  he  did  when  he  ex-   fico'nlmg  to 

claimed,  "  The  palate  has  destroyed  the  world  "  ? 

These  lamentations  of  the  moralists  were  due  to  the 
rapid  progress  made  at  Rome  in  the  science  of  dainty 
cooking.  The  suddenness  of  the  change  from  fru- 
gality to  indulgence  made  the  latter  seem  all  the  more 
shocking.  In  161  B.  C.  the  fattening  of  chickens 
horrified  the  Romans  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
censors  issued  a  decree  forbidding  it,  and  this  decree 
had  retained  its  place  among  the  sumptuary  laws  subse- 
quently promulgated.  Sixty  years  later,  even  at  the 
most  splendid  repasts,  Greek  wine  was  only  served 
once  to  the  guests.  But  in  the  cellar  of  the  orator  Dainty  table 
Hortensius,  who  lived  in  the  first  century  of  our  era,  a 
supply  of  10,000  jars  of  foreign  wine  was  found,  and 
soon  after  the  battle  of  Actium  the  luxury  of  the  table 
reached  its  height.  The  world  then  was  conquered  ; 
by  way  of  Alexandria  Rome  was  put  into  commercial 
relations  with  Asia  ;  the  natural  products  and  the 
manufactured  articles  of  the  whole  world  flowed  into 
Rome.  This  fact,  coincident  with  the  increased  for- 
tunes of  certain  great  houses,  changed  completely  the 
table  fare  from  extremely  frugal  and  simple  to  abundant 
and  elaborate. 

It   is   certain   that  from   Augustus   to   Vespasian    the  GIuttoliy  not 
luxury  of  the  table  was  carried  very  far,  but  it  is  no  less   *£™™e™™  as 
certain  that  it  was  not  so  extravagant  nor  so  monstrous  sented. 
as  might  be  inferred  from  certain  passages  of  Pliny  the 
Elder  or  of  Seneca.     The  virtuous  indignation  of  these 


1 68  Roman  Life  in   Pliny's   Time. 

writers  was  especially  provoked  by  the  eccentricities  of 
a  few  fools  who  wanted  to  be  talked  about  and  who 
were  less  influenced  by  gluttony  than  by  a  desire  for 
notoriety.  Seneca  understood  the  facts,  and  he  should 
have  avoided  making  his  criticisms  general. 

The  spendthrifts  [says  Seneca]  aim  to  have  the  life  which 
sought^after.  tney  ^eac^  continually  the  subject  of  conversation.  They  think 
they  have  lost  their  pains  if  they  are  not  talked  about.  As 
soon  as  one  of  their  actions  escapes  notice  they  are  dissatis- 
fied. Many  of  them  eat  up  their  fortune  in  giving  gay  enter- 
tainments, many  support  mistresses  at  great  expense.  In 
order  to  make  yourself  a  name  among  them,  it  is  not  enough 
to  lead  a  voluptuous  life,  you  must  pose  so  as  to  attract  atten- 
tion. Ordinary  dissipation  does  not  create  gossip  in  so  busy  a 
city. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  why  a  certain  P.  Octavius 
paid  5,000  sesterces  (about  $212.50)  for  one  fish  of  ex- 
traordinary size  ;  such  a  glorious  purchase  could  not 
fail  to  be  a  subject  for  gossip  throughout  the  city. 

But  the  Romans  had  no  monopoly  on  foolish  prodi- 
An  expensive  galities.  Do  we  not  know  that  under  the  First 
Empire  in  France,  the  exchequer  reckoned  at  6,000 
francs  ($1,170)  the  total  expense  of  purchasing,  pre- 
paring, and  transporting  an  enormous  trout  with  its 
sauce,  sent  by  the  town  of  Geneva  to  the  archchan- 
cellor  Cambace>es  ?  Octavius  compared  to  Cambaceres 
was  a  miser  ;  it  is  true,  however,  that  Cambace>es  did 
not  pay  for  this  beautiful  dish  out  of  his  own  pocket ; 
it  was  France  that  footed  the  bill. 

Examples  of  still  more  gluttony  there  certainly  were 
A  sumptuous  at  Rome.  It  would  be  useless  to  deny  it.  At  a  feast 
which  was  given  half  a  century  before  Christ  the  first 
course  was  :  sea-urchins,  raw  oysters,  each  guest  as 
many  as  he  desired,  giant  mussels,  a  thrush  on  a  bed  of 
asparagus,  a  fattened  pullet,  a  soup  of  oysters  and 


Society.  1 69 

mussels,  black  shell  fish  and  white  shell  fish  ;  some 
more  shell  fish,  sea-nettles,  and  some  variety  of  salt 
water  fish  with  fig  peckers,  fillets  of  wild  boar  and  of 
wild  kid,  a  poultry  pie,  and  purple  fish  with  fig  peckers. 
The  principal  course  was  composed  of  sows'  udders,  a 
boar's  jowl,  fricassee  of  fish  and  of  sows'  udders,  wild  The  principal 

J  course. 

duck,  teal,  which  was  boiled,  hares,  roasted  fowl,  a 
flour  pudding,  and  loaves  of  Picentian  bread.  The 
menu  of  the  dessert,  if  there  was  any,  is  not  preserved. 
Certainly  a  copious  bill  of  fare  !  Enough  to  finish  off 
the  partakers  !  But  the  feast,  we  may  rest  assured, 
was  among  the  most  sumptuous,  for  otherwise  Macro- 
bius,  who  lived  four  or  five  centuries  after  it  occurred, 
would  not  have  furnished  us  with  our  account  of  it  as 
he  has  done.  Moreover — and  this  explains  everything 
— the  repast  was  gotten  up  for  some  priests. 

After  all,  gormandizing  was  rarer  at  Rome  than  is 
generally  believed.  But  a  Roman  loved  to  cut  a  dash, 
and  when  he  received  guests  at  his  table  he  had  an 
opportunity  for  doing  so  which  he  did  not  like  to  lose. 

Let  us  try,  by  gathering  together  and  arranging  the 
scraps  of  information  that  Petronius  and  Martial  have 
left  us,  to  present  to  our  readers  a  vivid  picture  of  one 
of  these  state  dinners. 

The  Romans  had  three  regular  meals  a  day  :  break-   Order  of 
fast,  at  about  nine  o'clock  ;  luncheon,  in  the  middle  of  meals, 
the  day  ;  and  dinner,   at  three  or  four  o'  clock  in  the 
afternoon.     The  latter  was   the  meal  to  which  friends 
and  acquaintances  were  invited.     The  Romans  had  a 
supper  sometimes  late  in  the  evening,  but  this  was  not  a 
regular  meal. 

According  to  Varro,  a  host  who  regarded  his  own 
comfort,  and  who  wished  to  make  it  as  pleasant  as 
possible  for  his  friends,  would  not  receive  at  his  table 


170 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


Number  of 
guests  invited. 


less  than  three  persons,  nor  more  than  nine — "not  less 
than  the  Graces,  nor  more  than  the  Muses"  seems  to 
have  been  for  a  long  time  at  Rome  an  axiom  in  the 
code  of  etiquette.  But  under  the  empire  this  axiom 
became  obsolete  ;  for  custom  authorized  those  invited  to 
bring  with  them  friends  who  had  not  been  asked  ;  the 
latter  were  called  "shadows,"  because  they  were 
fancifully  regarded  as  the  shadows  cast  by  those  who 
brought  them.  Owing  to  this  custom,  the  number  of 
guests  was  often  very  large.  Moreover,  at  the  public 


Dress  for  the 
iable. 


WINTER  DINING-ROOM  OF  THE  POMPEIIAN  HOUSE  AT  SARATOGA  SPRINGS, 
N.  Y.    Franklin  W.  Smith,  architect. 

dinners  given  by  the  emperors  a  vast  number  of  covers 
were  laid — as  many  as  six  hundred  on  one  occasion. 
The  example  set  by  the  court  in  this,  as  in  many  other 
particulars,  was  followed  by  private  individuals. 

Those  Romans  who  were  well  versed  in  the  rules  of 
etiquette  never  dined  in  the  toga.     They  wore  at  table 


Society.  171 

special  garments,  which  they  never  wore  anywhere 
else  ;  and  when  they  were  going  to  dine  out  they 
would  send  these  garments  to  their  host's  house, 
unless  he  was  to  furnish  them  some  for  the  occasion. 
When  the  guests  were  assembled  in  the  dining-hall,  the 
host  assigned  to  each  one  his  place.  In  early  times,  it 
was  the  style  to  have  a  square  table,  with  a  couch  or 
divan  on  each  of  three  of  its  sides  ;  the  fourth  side  was  Precedence  at 

table. 

left  free  for  the  attendants  to  put  down  and  remove 
dishes.  Each  couch  was  calculated  to  hold  three 
occupants.  The  couch  of  honor  was  the  center  one  ; 
the  couch  to  the  left  of  this  was  second  in  point  of 
honor,  and  the  one  to  the  right  was  the  least  honorable. 
The  last  would  be  occupied  by  the  host,  his  wife,  and 
perhaps  their  child,  while  the  two  first  would  be  re- 
served for  guests.  At  the  end  of  the  republic  round 
tables  were  introduced,  and  then  a  single  semi-circular 
couch  was  used,  called,  on  account  of  its  form,  a  sigma, 
the  name  of  the  Greek  letter  ?  (English  s),  whose 
ancient  form  was  C. 

These  tables  were  almost  always  very  costly.     The 

,J  J  Costly  tables. 

favorite  material  for  them  was  citrus  wood.  We  have 
already  spoken  of  the  fact  that  Cicero  owned  a  table  of 
citrus  wood  worth  500,000  sesterces  (about  $21,250), 
and  other  tables  are  mentioned  by  the  ancient  authors 
which  cost  as  much  as  1,400,000  sesterces  (about 
$59,500);  they  were  ornamented  with  mosaic,  mother 
of  pearl,  pearls,  and  ebony.  Before  table-cloths  were 
used  it  is  easy  to  comprehend  why  the  ancients  should 
have  indulged  their  taste  for  elegant  tables,  but  in  the 
time  of  the  Antonines  table-cloths  began  to  be  fashion- 
able, and  still  the  rich  would  buy  tables  as  costly  as 
ever. 

The  Romans   had  the  art  of  setting  a  table  to  pro- 


172  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

duce  a  most  sumptuous  effect.  A  handsome  center- 
theTabie°n  °f  piece  would  occupy  the  middle.  The  centerpiece  on 
the  table  of  Trimalchio,  a  character  in  the  romance  of 
Petronius,  was  in  the  form  of  a  globe  ' '  upon  which 
were  represented  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac. 
Below  each  sign  the  host  had  caused  to  be  placed 
dishes  which  on  account  of  their  appearance  or  their 
nature  had  some  connection  with  the  constellation 
represented.  Under  the  Ram  were  chick-peas,  under 
the  Bull,  a  roast  of  bee},  etc.  ...  In  the  center  of 
this  beautiful  globe  a  tuft  of  grass,  artistically  carved, 
supported  a  honey-comb."  But  Trimalchio  was  only 
an  eccentric  gentleman  of  poor  taste  ;  a  man  of  culture 
as  well  as  of  means  would  adopt  a  more  simple  method 
of  decoration.  Nonnius  Vindex  had  for  a  centerpiece  a 
statuette  of  Hercules,  done  by  the  sculptor  Lysippus. 
Although  it  occupied  less  room  than  Trimalchio' s 
globe,  it  was  no  less  costly. 

Other  table  ornaments  were  beautiful  candelabra  from 
mints  °rna  -^Egina,  murrhine  vases,  dishes  of  rock  crystal,  silver- 
ware marked  with  the  owner's  initials.  The  father- 
in-law  of  Seneca,  Pompeius  Paulinus,  when  starting  off 
to  command  the  Roman  army  in  Germany,  carried  with 
him  between  eight  and  nine  thousand  pounds  of  table 
silver.  Such  extravagance  astonishes  us  ;  but  it  would 
surprise  us  no  less,  if  we  were  able  to  take  our  place  at 
one  of  those  overloaded  tables,  to  find  no  napkins  and 
no  knives.  The  guests  brought  their  own  napkins 
with  them,  and  as  to  knives  and  forks,  the  custom  of 
serving  the  food  cut  up  into  small  bits  rendered  them 
unnecessary.  At  each  person's  place  two  spoons  were 
laid,  a  large  one  and  a  small  one,  and  sometimes  a  few 
toothpicks.  A  silver  toothpick  was  a  mark  of  luxury, 
ordinary  ones  being  of  wood  or  quill. 


Society.  173 

An  elaborate  dinner  was  served  in  several  courses — 
the  number  rose  to  eight  or  nine  under  the  empire.  The  courses  of 

0  a  dinner. 

But  there  were  three  indispensable  courses — the  ante- 
past  or  relish,  the  dinner  proper,  and  the  dessert.  The 
antepast  consisted  of  shell  fish  ;  but  oysters,  which 
served  to  awaken  the  appetite  of  the  diners,  seem  to 
have  been  eaten  in  the  middle  of  the  repast  to  revive  it. 
At  the  dinner  proper  the  pieces  de  resistance  appeared  ; 
then  the  waiters  brought  in  the  sauces — poppy  sauce, 
made  from  the  juice  of  poppy  seeds  roasted  and  crushed  ; 
garum  sauce,  made  of  the  entrails  of  fish  preserved  in 
wine  or  vinegar  and  seasoned  with  pepper,  salt,  etc. 
Next  fowls,  fattened  pullets,  pheasants,  sows'  udders, 
and,  finally,  larger  animals,  which  in  the  most  elegant 
mansions  were  brought  on  the  table  whole.  The  dessert  The  dessert. 
was  composed  of  pastry  and  fruit.  Since  Priapus  was  the 
god  of  the  gardens,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  preside 
over  this  part  of  the  meal  ;  so  the  pastry  cooks  used  to 
make  out  of  their  dough  figures  of  Priapus  gathering  up 
his  robe  in  front  so  that  a  deep  pocket  was  formed  in 
its  folds  ;  when  these  figures  appeared  as  dessert  the 
pockets  would  be  filled  with  all  kinds  of  fruit,  which  the 
god  would  seem  to  be  offering  to  the  guests.  The  final 
course,  moreover,  was  the  time  for  surprises.  Some- 
times the  ceiling  of  the  dining-room  would  open  and 
flowers  would  rain  down  ;  sometimes  a  fountain  of  per- 
fumed water  would  rise  from  a  hidden  pipe ;  sometimes 
even — and  this  was  a  less  charming  surprise — a  skeleton 
would  be  brought  into  the  dining-room.  Petronius,  in 
his  romance,  records  such  an  occurrence  as  follows  : 

While  we  were  drinking  and  admiring  in  detail  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  feast,  a  slave  placed  upon  the  table  a  silver 
skeleton,  so  well  contrived  that  the  vertebrae  and  the  joints 
moved  easily  in  all  directions. 


174  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

This  was  not  an  extravagant  invention  of  Trimalchio's, 
but  a  custom  which  the  Greeks  had  learned  from  the 
Egyptians  and  transmitted  to  the  Romans. 

In  what  order  were  the  wines  served?     It  is  difficult 

Wines. 

to  say.  But  we  know  that  first  came  the  mead  or 
honey-wine.  Martial  has  left  us  an  enumeration  of  the 
famous  wines  of  his  day.  Just  for  the  sake  of  curiosity 
let  us  run  over  them.  They  were  the  Albanum,  the 
Surrentinum,  the  Setinum,  the  Fundanum,  the  Trifoli- 


THE  VINTAGE  FESTIVAL.     From  a  painting  by  L.  Alma-Tadema. 

num,  which  was  npt  considered  very  good,  the  Sig- 
ninum,  which  was  rather  sour,  the  Pelignum,  very 
muddy,  the  Massilian,  very  fragrant,  the  Tarentine,  the 
Caeretanum,  the  Nomentanum,  and  finally  the  delicious 
Caecubum,  and  the  generous  Falernum,  whose  praises 
the  verses  of  Horace  have  immortalized. 

But  a  host's  chief  duty  was,  not  to  furnish  food  and 
drink — this  was  the  business  of  the  steward  and  the 
cook — but  to  devise  with  ingenious  taste  the  amuse- 
ments, for  some  kind  of  entertainment  always  accom- 
panied a  feast. 

The  question  in  a  host's  mind  always  was,  "What 
new  diversion  can  I  provide  for  my  guests?  Shall  I 
have  an  artist  in  the  dining-room  to  mold  under  their 


Society.  175 

eyes  plastic  figures  from  soft  clay  ?  Shall  I  have  read- 
ings from  epic  poetry?  Shall  I  have  some  beautiful 
Andalusian  girls  exhibit  their  famous  dancing,  accom- 
panied by  the  flute  and  castanets,  and  a  choir  of 
singers  ?  Shall  I  have  a  concert  of  zither  players  ?  Or 
shall  I  entertain  my  guests  with  a  farce  or  a  mime  ? ' ' 

There  was  plenty  to  choose  from.  The  difficulty 
always  was  to  make  a  choice.  For  custom  had 
rendered  some  program  indispensable.  But  many 
complaints  were  made  in  regard  to  these  entertainments 
— in  the  first  place  that  they  were  too  costly,  and 
furthermore  that  they  were  carried  to  excess.  Pliny, 
with  his  usual  prudence  and  tolerance,  expresses  his 
views  on  the  subject  as  follows  : 

I  have  received  your  letter,  in  which  you  complain  of 
having  been  highly  disgusted  lately  at  a  very  splendid  enter-  Pliny's  views, 
tainment,  by  a  set  of  buffoons,  mummers,  and  wanton  prosti- 
tutes, who  were  dancing  about  round  the  tables.  But  let  me 
advise  you  to  smooth  your  knitted  brow  'somewhat.  I  con- 
fess, indeed,  I  admit  nothing  of  this  kind  at  my  own  house  ; 
however,  I  bear  with  it  in  others.  "And  why,  then,"  you 
will  be  ready  to  ask,  "not  have  them  yourself?"  The  truth  is, 
because  the  gestures  of  the  wanton,  the  pleasantries  of  the 
buffoon,  or  the  extravagances  of  the  mummer,  give  me  no 
pleasure,  as  they  give  me  no  surprise.  It  is  my  particular 
taste,  you  see,  not  my  judgment  that  I  plead  against  them. 
And,  indeed,  what  numbers  are  there  who  think  the  enter- 
tainments with  which  you  and  I  are  most  delighted  are  wholly 
without  interest !  How  many  are  there  who,  as  soon  as  a 
reader,  a  lyrist,  or  a  comedian  is  introduced,  either  take  their 
leave  of  the  company,  or,  if  they  remain,  show  as  much 
dislike  to  this  sort  of  thing  as  you  did  to  those  monsters,  as 
you  call  them  !  Let  us  bear,  therefore,  my  friend,  with  others 
in  their  amusements,  that  they  in  return  may  show  indulgence 
to  ours.  Farewell. 

But  Martial  is  less  tolerant ;  one  of  his  epigrams 
reads  as  follows  :  ' 


176  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

The  eloquent  page  of  Priscus  considers  "what  is  the  best 

Martial's  kind  of  feast?"   and    offers    many  suggestions    with  grace, 

many  with  force,  and  all  with  learning.     Do  you  ask  me, 

what  is  the  best  kind  of  feast  ?    That  at  which  no  flute-player 

is  present. 

Martial  certainly  was  not  fond  of  music.  But  we  should 
remember  that  the  best  things  may  be  rendered  un- 
endurable by  abuse,  and  that  many  hosts,  in  their 
excess  of  zeal,  made  amusements  a  bore. 

These  interludes  at  a  meal  must,  in  any  case,  have 
seriously  interfered  with  talking  among  the  guests. 
We  shall  not  expect  to  find,  then,  at  dinner-parties  any 
examples  of  conversation  in  Rome. 

Private  conversation,  as  formerly  public  speaking, 
Conversation,  developed  in  the  open  air.  Let  us  enter  an  exedra  at 
Rome  and  watch  those  who  are  enjoying  an  hour's 
recreation  there.  We  find  a  group  of  men  discussing 
some  topic  which  seems  to  be  of  the  most  absorbing 
interest,  for  their  voices  are  loud,  their  gestures  violent, 
and  their  faces  expressive  of  the  greatest  animation. 
But  soon  the  conversation  becomes  less  general  ;  now 
two  or  three  only  sustain  it ;  the  others,  one  by  one, 
quietly  drop  away.  Those  who  remain  and  continue 
talking  with  unabated  zeal  are  philosophers,  scholars, 
or  grammarians,  who  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to 
enter  into  a  discussion  upon  some  difficult  or  abstract 
question.  They  have  driven  away  the  rest  of  the 
company,  who  could  not  follow  them  through  the 
intricacies  of  their  argument. 

Outside  the  temples,  near  the  libraries,  in  the  book- 

A  literary  con-  ~ 

versation.  shops,  literary  people  would  gather  together  and  dis- 

cuss the  latest  publications. 

"Pliny,"  some  one  would  say,  "has  just  sent  some 
new  hendecasyllables  to  Titius  Aristo. ' ' 


Society. 


177 


°' 


"Have    you    heard,"    some    one    else    would   ask, 
"  about  the  stupid  mistake  of  Javolenus  Priscus?    Why, 
a  poet  was  reading  aloud  one  of  his  poems,  and  the  first  xhe  stupid 
line  commenced   'You,   Priscus,   command'  —  and  what   Pr 
did  Javolenus  do  but  burst  right  in,  'I!  why,   I  don't 
command  anything.'     The   blockhead    didn't   know   it 
was  part  of  the  poem." 

"Statius,"    some    one    else    would    contribute,    "is 


PERISTYLE  OF  THE  POMPKIIAN  HOUSE  AT  SARATOGA  SPRINGS,  N.  Y. 
Franklin  \V.  Smith,  architect. 

going  to  give  a  reading  from  his  'Xhebai's.'     The  whole 
city  is  overjoyed  at  the  prospect. 

And  then  struggling  authors  would  complain  of  their  complaints  of 
lot.     One   of    them,    who    had    been    unsuccessful    in  abhors?* ' 
securing  an  audience  when  he  gave  readings  from  his 
manuscript  poems,  would  exclaim  : 

"Alas!  how   unfortunate   it  is  to  have  a  mania  for 


I78 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


No  more 
Maecenases. 


Compliments 
exchanged. 


Lively 
criticism. 


writing  !  I  might  as  well  put  my  verses  in  the  cup- 
board and  let  the  bugs  and  spiders  eat  them  up,  for  the 
day  is  past  of  such  men  as  Maecenas  ;  our  rich  misers 
don't  know  enough  to  bestow  upon  talent  anything  but 
praise  and  empty  admiration." 

"But,"  a  sympathetic  friend  would  reply,  "  Macu- 
lonus  lent  you  a  hall  in  his  house  in  which  to  give  a 
reading  from  your  poems  ;  he  even  had  his  freedmen 
help  swell  the  audience,  and  he  distributed  here  and 
there  applauders  possessed  of  vigorous  lungs. ' ' 

"Yes,"  the  other  would  reply,  "but  he  did  not 
meet  the  expense  of  the  banquet,  nor  did  he  pay  for 
the  platform  and  the  chairs  for  the  orchestra  which  had 
to  be  supplied.  Just  think !  I  shall  have  to  pawn  my 
cloak." 

And  the  self-satisfied  poets  would  overwhelm  each 
other  with  compliments. 

"You  are  an  Alceus,"  one  of  them  would  say. 

"And  you  a  Callimachus,"  would  be  the  reply. 

"Your  poems  have  power  from  all  others  to  wean  us." 
"In  yours  hold  sway  all  the  Graces  and  Venus." 
"You  marshall  your  words  as  if  'twere  by  magic." 
"And  you  are  supreme  in  the  realm  of  the  tragic." 

This  complaisant  dialogue  between  Vadius  and  Tris- 
sotin  in  Moliere's  comedy,  "Les  Femmes  Savantes," 
strikingly  resembles  the  conversation  of  their  Roman 
ancestors. 

But  praise  becomes  insipid.  There  is  more  spice  in 
criticism  ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  it  had  a  large  place 
in  the  every-day  talk  among  literary  men. 

"Piccus,"  some  one  would  say,  "writes  his  epi- 
grams on  the  back  side  of  his  pages,  and  then  com- 
plains that  they  are  opposite  to  good  sense." 

"You  make  a  great  mystery,  Cinna,"  some  one  else 


Society.  1 79 

would  continue,  ' '  out  of  your  poems  that  no  one  has 
seen. 

"Just  publish  them,  friend, 

And  the  talk  will  soon  end." 

We  must  suppose,  also,  that  general  theories  were 
often  discussed.  Fruitful  topics  of  conversation  were  Literary  dis- 
furnished  by  the  never-settled  differences  between  the 
partisans  of  native  literature  and  the  lovers  of  Alex- 
andrianism.  Juvenal  probably  often  indulged  his  keen 
wit  at  the  expense  of  the  latter,  and  it  is  not  likely, 
whatever  he  may  say  about  it,  that  he  waited  until  he 
wrote  his  first  satire  to  express  his  disgust  at  Codrus, 
the  poet  who  made  himself  hoarse  by  reciting  his  own 
verses,  and  who  had  compelled  him  so  many  times  to 
be  an  unwilling  listener  to  the  reading  of  his  "Theseid." 

The  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  fashionable  society  used 
to  enjoy  meeting  each  other  in  the  porticoes,  richly  chat, 
adorned  with  statues,  and  in  the  public  promenades  and 
walks,  under  the  shade  of  the  laurel  and  plane  trees. 
Here  they  would  chat  together,  praise  the  latest  exhi- 
bition of  ballet-dancing,  discuss  the  merits  of  this  or 
that  gladiator,  wax  enthusiastic  over  the  triumph  of  the 
horse  who  had  won  in  the  last  races  of  the  Circus 
Maximus,  or  take  sides  for  the  blues  or  the  reds,  colors 
worn  to  distinguish  the  contestants  in  the  games  of  the 
circus.  There  was  much  talk,  too,  about  love  affairs, 
especially  among  the  ladies. 

In  short,  gossip  flourished  in  Rome  as  much  as  in 
any  little  country  village.  A  girl  could  not  be  pretty  in 
Rome  with  impunity.  Slander,  Propertius  tells  us, 
was  the  punishment  for  beauty.  This  eager  delight  in 
gossip  led  to  frequent  intrusion  into  people's  private 
affairs,  and  sometimes  even  to  espionage. 

Hence  arises  [said  Seneca]  the  most  frightful  of  all  forms  of 


180  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

baseness — spying  into  the  secrets  of  individuals,  besides 
attempting  to  find  out  many  things  that  one  can  neither  listen 
to  nor  communicate  without  danger. 

It  was  of  no  use  to  try  to  escape   from   eyes  always 

Espionage.  ,  ,       .  ,  -11  -\r 

on  the  watch,  from  ears  always  strained  to  hear.  You 
could  not  conceal  your  life ;  you  lived  in  an  open 
house. 

Juvenal,  in  one  of  his  satires,  writes  : 

And  dost  thou  seriously  believe,  fond  swain, 
The  actions  of  the  great  unknown  remain  ? 
Poor  Corydon  !  even  beasts  would  silence  break, 
And  stocks  and  stones,  if  servants  did  not,  speak. 
Bolt  every  door,  stop  every  cranny  tight, 
Close  every  window,  put  out  every  light ; 
Let  not  a  whisper  reach  the  listening  ear, 
No  noise,  no  motion  ;  let  no  soul  be  near  ; 
Yet  all  that  passed  at  the  cock's  second  crow, 
The  neighboring  vintner  shall,  ere  daybreak,  know, 
With  what  besides  the  cook  and  carver's  brain, 
Subtly  malicious,  can  in  vengeance  feign  ! 

Martial,  in  his  portrait  of  the  coxcomb,  has  taken  off 
marvelously  well  the  commonplaces  of  conversation 
often  exchanged  among  the  idle,  society  people  of  his 
day.  The  following  is  his  epigram  (we  use  Elton's 
translation): 

They  tell  me,  Cotilus,  that  you're  a  beau  ; 
What  this  is,  Cotilus,  I  wish  to  know. 
"A  beau  is  one  who,  with  the  nicest  care, 
coxcomb?  '  1°  parted  locks  divides  his  curling  hair  ; 

One  who  with  balm  and  cinnamon  smells  sweet, 
Whose  humming  lips  some  Spanish  air  repeat ; 
Whose  naked  arms  are  smoothed  with  pumice-stone, 
And  tossed  about  with  graces  all  his  own  ; 
A  beau  is  one  who  takes  his  constant  seat, 
From  morn  to  evening,  where  the  ladies  meet ; 
And  ever,  on  some  sofa  hovering  near, 
Whispers  some  nothing  in  some  fair  one's  ear  ; 


Society. 


181 


Why  the 
Romans 
gossiped. 


Who  scribbles  thousand  billets-doux  a  day  ; 

Still  reads  and  scribbles,  reads,  and  sends  away  ; 

A  beau  is  one  who  shrinks,  if  nearly  pressed 

By  the  coarse  garment  of  a  neighbor  guest ; 

Who  knows  who  flirts  with  whom,  and  still  is  found 

At  each  good  table  in  successive  round  ; 

A  beau  is  one — none  better  knows  than  he 

A  race  horse,  and  his  noble  pedigree  "- 

Indeed?    Why,  Cotilus,  if  this  be  so, 

What  teasing,  trifling  thing  is  called  a  beau  ! 

Slander  and  frivolity — such  was  the  substance  of  the 
fashionable  conversation  at  Rome.  We  must  admit, 
however,  that  the  Romans  had  an  excuse,  which  happily 
we  of  to-day  have  not,  for  idle  and  mischievous  conver- 
sation. They  slandered  private  individuals  because 
they  could  not  criticise  public  men  ;  they  discussed 
petty  subjects  because  great  ones  were  forbidden. 

To-day  we  are  not  afraid  to  talk  about  politics  and  to 
express  ourselves  very  freely  ;  there  is  scarcely  a  social  politics  a  for- 

....  i      J  T-  bidden  topic  of 

gathering  where  they  are   not  touched  upon,      bvery  conversation. 

one  thinks  he  has  a  right  to  his  own  opinion  on  this 

subject,  and  even  the  ladies  must  have 

their  say.     At   certain   epochs   of   the 

empire  politics  were  a  forbidden  topic 

of  conversation.     There  were,  indeed, 

even  at  such  epochs,  those  moving  in 

social  circles  who  liked  to  make  a  show 

of  knowledge  in  matters  of  state  ;  but 

what  was  their  information  worth  ? 

The  following  epigram  of  Martial's 
throws  some  light  upon  this  question  : 

These  are  the  contrivances,  Philomusus, 
by  which  you  are  constantly  trying  to  secure 
a  dinner  :  inventing  numbers  of  fictions,  and 
retailing  them  as  true.  You  are  informed 
of  the  counsels  of  Pacorus  at  the  court  of 


WOMAN'S  HKAD. 
Vatican  Museum,  Rome. 


182 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


Fictitious 
news. 


Spies  and 
informers. 


The  law  of 
majestas. 


The  terrible 
power  of 
informers. 


Parthia  ;  you  can  tell  the  exact  numbers  of  the  German  and 
Sarmatian  armies.  You  reveal  the  unopened  dispatches  of  the 
Dacian  general  ;  you  see  a  laureled  letter,  announcing  a  vic- 
tory, before  its  arrival.  You  know  how  often  dusky  Syene  has 
been  watered  by  Egyptian  floods  ;  you  know  how  many  ships 
have  sailed  from  the  shores  of  Africa  ;  you  know  for  whose 
head  the  Julian  olives  grow,  and  for  whom  the  Father  of 
Heaven  destines  his  triumphal  crowns.  A  truce  to  your  arts  ; 
you  shall  dine  with  me  to-day,  but  only  on  this  condition, 
Philomusus,  that  you  tell  me  no  news. 

But  as  soon  as  a  person  began  to  talk  about  the 
plans  of  the  emperor,  about  his  friends  or  his  victims, 
he  was  in  danger.  There  were  spies  everywhere  and 
it  was  no  safer  to  listen  than  to  talk. 

We  should  have  lost  [said  Tacitus]  with  our  free  speech, 
our  memories,  if  it  had  been  as  easy  to  forget  as  to  keep  still. 

The  informers  were  always  on  the  alert,  and  hovered 
about  armed  with  the  formidable  law  of  majestas,  which 
made  it  treason  to  utter  a  syllable  reflecting  criticism 
upon  the  government,  and  they  spread  terror  every- 
where. The  ancient  writers  have  left  us  startling  testi- 
mony upon  the  subject  of  this  universal  dread  that 
rested  upon  Roman  society. 

Never  [said  Tacitus,  speaking  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius]  did 
greater  consternation  and  alarm  prevail  in  Rome.  People 
trembled  in  the  presence  of  their  nearest  relatives.  They 
scarcely  dared  approach  each  other  or  speak  to  each  other. 
Every  ear  was  suspected,  whether  known  or  unknown.  Even 
mute  and  inanimate  things  inspired  dread.  People  glanced 
anxiously  at  the  walls  and  the  ceiling. 

There  had  been  so  many  examples  of  the  terrible- 
power  of  the  informers.  It  was  an  informer  who  had 
caused  the  death  of  Valerius  Asiaticus ;  it  was  due  to 
an  information  that  Rusticus  Arulenus,  Helvidius  Pris- 
cus,  and  so  many  other  worthy  men  had  been  sent  into 


Society.  183 

exile.  There  were  so  many  instances  that  could  be 
cited  of  the  perfidy  and  wickedness  of  these  odious 
men.  No  one  had  forgotten  the  story  of  Sabinus.  A 
traitor  by  long  and  skilful  maneuvering  had  won  his 
friendship  ;  then  he  invited  him  to  his  house,  and  while 
Sabinus,  in  perfect  trust,  gave  vent  to  his  indignation 
against  the  tyranny  of  Tiberius,  three  senators  were 
listening,  crouched  in  the  roof  of  the  informer's  house, 
so  that  they  might  report  what  they  heard  to  the 
emperor. 

These  despicable  rascals  often  became  important  per- 
sonages.    Domitius  Afer  and  Regulus,  both  informers,    The  wealth  of 
had  speedily  attained  wealth.     The  latter,  according  to 
Pliny,   possessed  40,000,000  sesterces   (about  $1,700,- 
ooo).     They  were  powerful,  and  enjoyed  their  power 
with  insolence.     One  day  some  one  spoke  before  the 
informer  Metius  Carus  of  one  of  his  victims,  furiously 
attacking  his  character.      "What  business  have  you,"    lence. 
exclaimed  Carus,  "  with  my  dead  ?  " 

It  was  not  only  under  the  bad  emperors  that  in- 
formers exercised  their  detestable  influence.  Pliny,  at 
the  succession  of  Trajan,  uttered  a  cry  of  joy  upon 
seeing  the  punishment  which  a  few  of  them  suffered. 

Memorable  spectacle!  [he  wrote].  A  flotilla  loaded  with 
informers  is  abandoned  to  the  winds.  It  is  compelled  to  punished! 
spread  its  sails  to  the  tempests  and  to  follow  the  angry  waves 
wherever  they  may  carry  it.  One  loves  to  watch  these  ships  as 
they  scatter  after  leaving  the  harbor.  And  it  is  not  for  one 
day  only,  it  is  forever  that  you  [Trajan]  have  repressed  the 
audacity  of  these  informers  by  overwhelming  them  with 
fearful  punishment.  They  try  to  seize  wealth  which  does  not 
belong  to  them — let  them  lose  what  they  have  of  their  own. 
They  burn  to  drive  others  out  of  their  homes — let  them  be 
snatched  away  from  their  own  hearths,  ...  let  their 
hopes  cease  to  be  greater  than  their  fears,  and  let  them  feel  as 
much  dread  as  they  inspire. 


1 84 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


Martial's 
warning. 


An  informer  at 
Nerva's  table. 


A  bright  reply. 


Systematic 
business 
carried  on  by 
informers. 


But  is  not  this  the  exaggeration  of  the  panegyric 
style?  Was  such  complete  safety  as  Pliny  claims 
secured  under  Trajan  ?  It  seems  doubtful.  Under 
Nerva,  who  was  neither  a  bad  emperor  nor  a  wicked 
man,  Martial,  inviting  six  friends  to  dinner,  warns  them 
to  avoid  dangerous  subjects  of  conversation. 

Let  my  guests  [he  said]  talk  about  the  blues  and  the  greens 
of  the  circus  [colors  worn  by  contestants],  for  I  do  not  want 
my  hospitality  to  be  the  cause  of  any  one's  being  accused  of 
crime. 

Veiento,  who  made  his  fortune  by  informing,  used  to 
dine  at  this  same  Nerva's  table.  One  day  the  conver- 
sation turned  upon  a  certain  Messalinus,  an  informer 
under  Nero,  who  had  caused  many  victims  to  perish. 
His  crimes  were  recounted,  and,  as  he  was  no  longer  to 
be  feared,  they  were  not  smoothed  over  nor  excused. 

"What  do  you  think,"  asked  the  emperor,  "would 
have  been  his  fate  had  he  lived  now  ? ' ' 

And  one  of  the  guests,  who  was  not  afraid  to  speak 
out,  said,  casting  a  sly  glance  at  Veiento,  ' '  He  would 
have  dined  with  you."  It  is  Pliny  himself  who  tells  us 
this  anecdote. 

The  fact  is  that  under  the  empire  informers  carried 
on  a  systematic  business.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
empire  a  secret  police  existed  in  Rome.  According  to 
Dion  Cassius,  Maecenas  had  declared  to  Augustus  that 
it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  employ  spies  throughout 
the  empire.  The  celebrated  informers,  Regulus  and 
Domitius  Afer,  were,  so  to  speak,  volunteers  ;  but 
there  was  a  whole  class  of  men  who  were  regularly 
enlisted  in  the  service  and  organized  after  the  fashion, 
perhaps,  of  the  police  of  the  Persian  kings.  Slavery, 
from  the  time  that  Augustus  found  means  to  evade  the 
ancient  law  making  a  slave's  information  worthless  in  a 


Society.  185 

court  of  justice,  furnished  precious  auxiliaries  to  the 
body  of  informers  ;  for  as  soon  as  a  master  gave  a 
slave  cause  for  complaint,  the  slave  could  take  his 
revenge  by  informing  against  his  master. 

Even  the  army  was  employed  in  this  wretched  busi- 
ness.    We  know  that  Hadrian  formed  a  special  corps 
of  soldiers,   called  "foragers,"   who  were  nothing  less  "Foragers." 
than  spies. 

It  is  by  allowing  your  confidence  to  be  too  quickly  won 
[said  Epictetus]  that  you  fall  into  the  traps  set  by  the  soldiers. 
A  military  man  in  citizen's  clothes  sits  down  beside  you  and 
begins  to  criticise  the  emperor.  You,  following  his  lead,  and 
taking  his  boldness  as  a  pledge  of  his  sincerity,  you,  I  say,  in 
your  turn,  express  your  opinion  ;  and  the  result  is  that  you  are 
put  in  chains  and  cast  into  prison. 

Let  us  remember  that  at  Rome  there  was  no  free 
public  press,  for  the  official  journal  contained  on  the 
burning  questions  of  the  day  only  what  the  government 
saw  fit  to  publish,  besides  items  of  court  news  and 
announcements  of  events  in  families  of  rank  and  in  high 
life.  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  public  rostrum  had  NO  freedom  of 
been  torn  down.  And  if  we  reflect  also  upon  the 
tyranny  which  oppressed  all  the  emperor's  subjects, 
which  was  relaxed  only  at  rare  moments,  without  being 
ever  completely  abolished,  we  shall  be  more  indulgent 
toward  the  gossips  of  Rome,  and  we  shall  be  able  to 
excuse  them  for  having  preferred  to  say  nothings  than 
to  say  nothing. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Necessity  of 
diversion. 


The  spectacles. 


The  games. 


"  Bread  and 
games." 


AMUSEMENTS. 

THIS  Roman  society,  whose  activity  was  so  limited, 
whose  members  were  not  allowed  to  express  noble 
thoughts  or  to  engage  in  the  discussion  of  great  ques- 
tions, felt  the  necessity  for  some  diversion  of  absorbing 
interest.  The  emperors  saw  this  and  provided  the 
spectacles. 

The  spectacles  comprise  chariot  races  and  other  ath- 
letic contests,  gladiatorial  shows,  beast-fighting,  exhi- 
bitions of  trained  animals,  and  dramatic  representations. 
Those  of  the  spectacles  which  had  the  character  of  con- 
tests are  also  called  games. 

After  the  close  of  the  republic  the  games  were  no 
longer  religious  in  character  ;  in  the  hands  of  the  party 
chiefs  they  became  simply  an  instrument  for  acquiring 
popularity.  The  young  Caelius,  for  instance,  when  tired 
of  pleasure  and  ambitious  for  power,  begged  of  Cicero, 
then  praetor  in  Cilicia,  to  send  him  some  panthers,  con- 
vinced that  they  would  be  a  great  attraction  in  the 
spectacles  which  he  intended  to  give  for  the  purpose  of 
winning  for  himself  the  popular  favor  before  running  for 
office.  Caelius  had  not  the  slightest  idea  of  adding  to 
the  splendor  of  the  fetes  celebrated  in  honor  of  the  gods. 

The  emperors,  too,  were  influenced  solely  by  motives 
of  self-interest  when  they  spent  money  on  the  spectac- 
ular shows.  Juvenal  has  made  familiar  the  phrase 
' '  Bread  and  games, ' '  and  this  was  indeed  the  cry  of  the 
masses,  idle,  or  at  least  busy,  with  trifles.  If  a  prince 

186 


Amusements. 


187 


heeded  this   cry  he  was  sure  to  win  for  himself  warm 
partisans.     Thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Nero  there   Nero's  popu- 
were  still  those  who  refused    to   believe   that   he   had  lanty- 
perished,  who  were  waiting  and  wishing  for  his  return, 
and  who  cherished  a  tender  memory   of  him.      People 
had  forgotten  that  he  had  burned  Rome  ;  they  remem- 
bered  only   the   magnificence  of   his   spectacles.     The 


AMPHITHEATER  IN  POMPEII. 


eames  had  become  an  instrument  of   power,    and  this   The  games  an 

.  instrument  of 

fact    was    perfectly    understood    by   that   pantomimist  power. 
Pylades,  who  said  to  Augustus,  "Your  interest  depends 
upon  our  occupying  the  attention  of  the  people." 

These  games,  which  had  taken  the  place  of  the  speeches 
given  in  the  public  square  by  the  orators  and  statesmen 
of  the  past,  owed  their  success  in  part  to  the  fact  that 
they  contained  some  elements  of  the  passion  and  storm 
that  had  belonged  to  the  ancient  forum.  They  fur- 
nished to  the  people  their  only  occasions  for  gathering 
together,  for  manifesting  their  sympathies  or  their  antip- 


1 88  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

athies,   for   expressing   their   wishes   to   the  sovereign. 

The  people  would  ask  for  the  representation  of  a  certain 

piece,   for  the  emancipation  of  a  certain  gladiator,   for 

The  games          the  pardon  of  a  criminal  condemned  to  fight  with  the 

furnish  occa- 
sions for  popu-     wild  beasts.     These  southerners,  noisy  and  violent,  had 

lar  demonstra- 
tion- a  craving  for  collecting   in  crowds,    for  mingling  their 

voices  in  the  shouts  that  arose  from  a  great  amphithe- 
ater, for  feeling  within  them  that  tempestuous  breath 
which  Horace  compares  to  the  roaring  of  the  Tuscan 
sea.  The  rulers  did  not  hesitate  to  satisfy  this  craving, 
for  rarely  did  the  popular  demonstrations  relate  to  any- 
thing but  the  games  themselves.  If  sometimes  they 
assumed  a  political  character,  as  when  the  knights 
asked  of  Augustus  the  abolition  of  a  severe  marriage 
law,  or  when  the  people,  under  Caligula,  protested 
against  the  burdensome  taxes,  the  emperor  had  the 
resource  of  leaving  the  entertainment  or  of  suppressing 
the  demonstration,  according  to  his  temperament. 

So  the  rulers  did  not  stint  their  expenditures  for  these 

The  cost  of  the 

games.  shows,  which  were  free  from  danger  and  advantageous 

in  so  many  ways.  In  51  A.  D.  large  sums  had  been  drawn 
from  the  public  treasury  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  games 
— 760,000  sesterces  (about  $32,370)  for  the  so-called 
Roman  games,  600,000  sesterces  (about  $25,500)  for  the 
plebeian  games,  380,000  sesterces  (about  $16,150)  for 
the  games  in  honor  of  Apollo,  10,000  sesterces  (about 
$425)  for  the  Augustan  games.  And  be  it  understood 
that  these  figures  represent  only  the  outlay  of  the  state. 
The  individuals  who  gave  the  entertainments  contrib- 
uted largely  to  them  from  their  own  resources.  Herod 

Judaea.  of  Judaea  spent  upon  a  fete  which  he  instituted  in  honor 

of  Augustus  nearly  500  talents  (about  $589,600).  And 
this  is  only  one  example  among  a  hundred.  We  must 
add  also  that  many  who  undertook  such  enormous  ex- 


Amusements.  1 89 


penditures  did  not  do  so  voluntarily,  but  were  driven  to 
it  by  motives  of  self-defense  ;  and  the  senators  felt 
obliged  by  their  position  to  contribute  toward  the  sup- 
port of  the  games.  These  heavy  financial  burdens  were 
a  sort  of  tax  levied  upon  the  aristocracy  in  the  interests 
of  the  masses,  and  they  caused  the  ruin  of  many  a  noble 
family. 

During  the  early  history  of  the  empire  the  splendor 
of  the  shows  steadily  increased,  and  the  time  which  they 
occupied  became  longer  and  longer.  Under  the  re- 
public there  were  seven  annual  spectacles  which  lasted 
sixty-six  days  in  all.  Augustus  does  not  seem  to  have 
modified  this  number  of  holidays,  but  under  Tiberius  it 
was  raised  to  eighty-seven.  Celebrations  of  victories,  Number  of 

0      J  holidays 

consecrations    of    temples,    anniversaries    of    emperors  increased, 
brought  the  number  up  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
days  in  the  time  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  under  Nero        t 
there   was  a  senator,    the  juris-consult   Caius   Cassius, 
who,    alarmed  at   the   increasing   number  of   holidays, 
demanded  a  law  to  limit  them. 

For  the  ancients,  in  fact,  the  theater  was  not,  as  with 
us,  a  diversion  and  recreation  after  a  day's  work.  The 
games  took  place  in  the  morning,  that  is  to  say  at  the 
only  time  when  it  was  possible  to  engage  in  business, 
and  it  was  not  unusual  for  them  to  be  prolonged  until  a 
late  hour  of  the  afternoon,  and  sometimes  even  into  the 
night. 

This  encouragement  of  idleness  justifies  the  condem- 
nation pronounced  upon  the  spectacles  by  the  moralists  encouraged, 
of  the  time.  In  fact,  the  games  were  making  of  the 
Roman  people  a  population  of  beggars.  And  we  shall 
see,  as  we  study  the  games  in  detail,  that  their  de- 
moralizing influence  did  not  stop  here. 

The  games  most  in  favor  with  the  people  and  with 


190 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


The  Circus 
Maximus. 


society  in  general  were  the  games  of  the  circus.  The 
horse  races,  introduced  into  Rome  from  Greece,  be- 
came, according  to  Tacitus,  very  popular.  At  first 
the  spectators  sat  upon  wooden  steps — temporary  con- 
structions, removed  as  soon  as  the  races  were  over. 
But  following  the  example  of  Pompey,  who  had  been 
the  first  to  build  a  theater  of  stone,  Julius  Caesar  gave 
to  the  Romans  a  permanent  circus,  or  race  course — the 
Circus  Maximus. 

The  Circus  Maximus  was  among  the  most  magnificent 
buildings  of  the  world's  capital.  It  was  situated  in  the 
oblong  valley  comprised  between  the  almost  parallel 


CIRCUS  MAXIMUS.    From  a  painting  by  Gerome. 

sides  of  the  Palatine  and  Aventine  Hills.  It  was  three 
and  a  half  stadia  (2,121  feet)  long,  and  four  plethra 
(404  feet)  broad.  An  exterior  wall,  circular  at  one 
end  and  straight  at  the  other,  inclosed  the  entire  space. 
Inside  this  wall  and  against  it  were  tiers  of  seats,  the 
straight  end  only  being  left  free.  These  seats  were  of 
stone,  except  those  near  the  top,  which  were  made  of 
wood  ;  and  this  seems  to  have  been  the  case  even  after 


Amusements.  191 


Nero,  Domitian,  and  Trajan  had  enlarged  and  embel- 
lished the  circus.  But  several  terrible  accidents  must 
have  shown  the  danger  of  wooden  seats.  They  fre-  Frequent 
quently  gave  way,  as  they  did  once  under  Augustus  acc 
when  1,100  lives  were  lost.  But  such  catastrophes  did 
not  discourage  the  public.  In  the  time  of  Caesar  the 
circus  could  seat  150,000  spectators  ;  this  figure  under 
Titus  rose  to  250,000,  according  to  Pliny  the  Elder  ; 
and  we  may  well  believe  that  no  seats  were  left  empty, 
for  we  learn  from  Seneca  that  the  shouts  which  arose 
from  the  assembly  were  heard  even  in  the  suburbs  of 
Rome.  It  was,  however,  only  the  lower  classes  who 
suffered  from  these  accidents  ;  the  places  nearest  the 
race-course  were  set  apart  for  the  senators,  and  just 
above  the  senators  sat  the  knights.  The  common 
people  were  crowded  together  on  the  wooden  seats 
which  rose  to  the  top  of  the  exterior  wall.  Distin- 
guished people,  therefore,  could  attend  the  circus 
without  danger  ;  the  plebeians  alone  enjoyed  this  pleas- 
ure at  the  risk  of  their  lives. 

A  canal  ten  feet  broad  and  ten  feet  deep  separated 
the  lowest  tier  of  seats  from  the  course,  and  served  as 
the  boundary  of  the  hippodrome. 

The  vast  oblong  space  which  formed  the  central  area, 
and  on  which  was  usually  sprinkled  a  fine  brilliant  sand,  The  central 
was  divided  lengthwise  into  two  parts  by  a  wall,  called 
the  spine,  because  its  position  on  the  shining  surface  of 
the  sand  was  similar  to  that  of  the  backbone  in  the 
human  frame.  Its  top  was  decorated  with  statues  or 
columns,  and  in  the  middle  stood  a  monolithic  obelisk 
of  oriental  granite.  In  addition  to  these  ornaments,  at 
each  end  of  the  spine  was  a  set  of  seven  marble  eggs 

.          The  spine. 

mounted  upon  a  shrine.     One  egg  from   each  shrine 
was  removed  by  a  slave  after  each  round  or  lap  of  a 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


The  goals. 


The  carceres. 


The 

Circensian 

parade. 


race  was  run — there  being  usually  seven  laps  to  each 
race.  The  spectators  were  thus  aided  in  keeping  in 
mind  the  progress  of  the  race. 

The  spine  occupied  less  than  two  thirds  of  the  length 
of  the  arena,  leaving  at  either  end  a  passage.  At  each 
extremity  of  the  spine,  at  a  little  distance  from  it,  was 
placed  a  goal,  consisting  of  three  tall  conical  objects, 
made  after  the  time  of  Claudius  of  gilt  bronze,  and 
decorated  with  bands  in  relief.  These  goals  formed  the 
turning-points  for  the  chariots. 

From  the  straight  end  of  the  circus  opened  thirteen 
arcades.  The  central  arcade,  higher  and  wider  than 
the  others,  was  an  entrance  for  spectators,  and  also  for 
the  formal  procession  with  which  the  games  began. 
The  other  twelve  arcades  were  chambers  where  the 
horses  and  chariots  stood  before  the  commencement  of 
a  race.  They  were  called  carceres,  or  prisons. 

Finally,  to  close  this  description,  let  us  say  that  a 
balcony  placed  over  the  principal  entrance  was  reserved 
for  the  president  of  the  games.  When  it  was  time  for  a 
race  to  begin,  he  gave  the  signal  for  starting  by  throw- 
ing down  a  purple  napkin. 

The  games,  which  had  at  first  a  religious  motive, 
kept  up  the  tradition  of  their  early  character  by  always 
opening  with  a  solemn  procession,  called  the  Circensian 
parade. 

Let  us  imagine  ourselves  among  the  spectators  at  one 
of  the  Roman  chariot  races.  The  procession  forms  on 
the  Capitoline  Hill,  passes  down  its  sacred  side,  crosses 
the  forum,  the  Vicus  Tuscus,  the  Velabrum,  the  cattle 
market,  and  finally  enters  the  circus,  led  by  the  pre- 
siding magistrate,  standing  in  a  chariot  and  wearing  the 
dress  of  a  triumphant  general.  His  chariot  is  followed 
by  musicians  playing  loudly  upon  their  instruments  and 


Aimisements.  193 


by  a  crowd  of  clients  dressed  in  white  togas.  Then 
come  statnes  of  the  gods,  borne  upon  litters  or  carried 
in  richly  ornamented  chariots  and  accompanied  by  the 
priests  grouped  in  their  religious  corporations.  This 
magnificent  parade  is  welcomed  by  the  cheers  and 
acclamations  of  the  crowd  ;  but  under  the  empire  this 
demonstration  lacks  all  enthusiasm.  It  has  become  an 
empty  form  like  the  procession  itself ;  for  the  parade,  An  empty  form' 
splendid  as  it  is,  has  grown  monotonous,  the  religious 
sentiment  connected  with  it  has  disappeared,  and  it  no 
longer  arouses  curiosity.  From  the  time  of  Tiberius 
the  words  "tiresome  as  the  Circensian  parade"  were  a 
proverb.  The  spectators  are  in  a  hurry  for  the  for- 
mality to  end,  they  are  impatient  for  the  races  to  begin. 
At  last  the  signal  is  given  ;  the  gates  of  the  prisons 
are  flung  open  and  the  contestants  appear.  They  are 
standing  in  their  two-wheeled  chariots,  which  are 
usually  very  light  and  almost  always  drawn  by  four 
horses  abreast.  These  charioteers  are  slaves  or  hire-  The 
lings  who  drive  for  the  owners  of  the  horses.  They  are  charloteers- 
dressed  in  short,  sleeveless  tunics,  with  close-fitting 
caps  upon  their  heads  ;  the  reins  are  wound  about  their 
waists,  and  each  one  has  in  his  girdle  a  knife  for 
cutting  himself  free  from  the  reins  in  case  of  accident, 
and  he  carries  in  his  hand  a  whip  with  a  double  lash. 
Their  places  in  the  prisons  were  designated  in  advance 
by  lot  under  the  supervision  of  the  president  of  the 
games. 

|  Leaning  over  the  necks  of  their  horses,  excited  by 
the  cries  and  the  tumult  of  the  crowd,  who  either  hoot  n 
them  or  cheer  them,  they  fling  themselves  into  the  con- 
test. They  must  make  the  course  seven  times,  seven 
times  they  must  turn  around  the  goals.  As  the  con- 
testants are  usually  numerous,  as  each  round  is  eagerly 


194 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny'  's   Time. 


Receivin 


disputed,  they  often  come  together  in  the  narrow  pas- 
sage at  the  end  of  the  spine  —  often  they  run  into  each 
other,  and  then  there  is,  according  to  the  expression  of 
Sophocles,  a  shipwreck  of  men,  horses,  and  chariots. 
The  one  who  has  been  able  to  avoid  this  danger,  the 
one  who,  after  the  seven  eggs  have  been  removed, 
g  the  arrives  first  at  the  chalk-line  in  front  of  the  balcony 

occupied  by  the  presid- 
ing officer,  is  proclaimed 
victor  by  the  herald. 
Descending  out  of  his 
chariot,  he  receives  from 
the  sedile  a  branch  of 
Idumaean  palm,  or  a 
wreath  of  gold  and  silver, 
wrought  in  imitation  of 
laurel,  or  the  more  sub- 
stantial but  less  brilliant 
prize  of  a  sum  of  money. 
The  races  between 
four-horse  chariots  were 
the  most  ordinary.  But 
as  the  games  of  the  circus 
were  very  lengthy  (under 
Trajan  there  would  be  as 
many  as  forty-eight  races 
in  one  day)  it  became 
necessary  to  introduce 

CHARIOTEER.    Vatican.  sQme   ^^   ^    them 

Accordingly,   you  might   see   sometimes   chariots   har- 
introduced  into    nessed  to  two  horses  only  ;  some  drivers  would  have  a 

the  races.  .  ' 

third  horse  in  front  of  the  two  ;  others,  but  they  were 
veritable  virtuosos,  would  have  themselves  drawn  by 
six,  seven,  or  eight  horses.  Of  course  such  daring 


^ 


Amusements.  195 


originality  was  much  admired  by  the  spectators.  The 
way  once  open  for  eccentricities,  they  were  carried  very 
far.  Did  not  Elagabalus  conceive  the  idea  of  having 
himself  drawn  by  four  camels  ?  And  is  he  not  also  the 
individual  who  had  two,  three,  or  four  beautiful  women 
harnessed  to  the  chariot  in  which  he  rode?  Yes,  he 
indulged  in  these  whims  in  his  own  private  circus.  But 
in  the  time  of  Nero  the  Circus  Maximus  itself  was  the 
scene  of  a  peculiar  exhibition.  The  praetor  Aulus  Fab- 
ricius  appeared  there  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  trained 
dogs.  The  regular  horse-drivers  had  refused  to  drive 
his  horses  for  him  in  a  race,  although  he  offered  them 
a  reasonable  price,  and  this  was  his  original  way  of 
showing  that  he  was  not  beaten. 

But  the  circus  offered  a  more  interesting  sight  than  the 
spectacle,  and  that  was  the  spectators.     One  must  have   Enthusiasm  of 

the  spectators. 

been  present  at  a  bull-fight  in  Spain,  he  must  have  seen 
a  whole  population,  as  if  out  of  their  senses,  now  stamp 
with  enthusiasm,  now  howl  in  anger,  now  applaud  with 
all  their  might  the  bull-fighter,  now  fling  at  him  a  mar- 
velous variety  of  insults  ;  he  must  have  seen  the  women 
throw  their  bouquets  and  even  their  jewels  at  the  daring 
or  skilful  champion,  cheer  him  and  waft  kisses  to  him, 
or  hurl  upon  the  coward  or  the  clown  the  most  unex- 
pected weapons — he  must  have  been  a  witness  of  this 
delirium,  which  is  so  contagious,  if  he  would  form  any 
idea  of  the  conduct  of  the  Romans  at  these  games  of  the 
hippodrome.  The  spectators  would  take  the  part  of 
this  horse,  or  this  driver,  they  would  encourage  their 
favorite  with  gesture  and  voice,  hooting  his  adversaries. 
If  your  neighbor  did  not  sympathize  with  you  in  your 
preferences,  then  followed  quarrels,  and  often  even  blows. 
Moreover,  there  were  no  actors  in  these  games  more 

....  ...  ,    Honors  paid  to 

feted  than  certain  celebrated  horses.     It  was  not  unusual  horses. 


196  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

to  gild  their  hoofs,  and  it  even  became  customary  for 
them  to  receive  money  and  presents.  Volucris,  the 
favorite  horse  of  Lucius  Verus,  obtained  one  day  a 
bushel  of  gold  pieces.  Hadrian  constructed  for  his 
horse,  Borysthenes,  a  tomb  bearing  an  inscription  which 
is  still  preserved  ;  and  this  is  not  an  isolated  fact  ;  it 
would  be  easy  to  cite  many  other  similar  examples. 
Can  we  be  surprised  after  this  at  the  stories  about  Ca- 

incitatus.  ligula  and  his  horse  Incitatus  ?     He  gave  him  a  com- 

plete house,  with  slaves  and  furniture,  and  insisted  upon 
his  friends  going  to  dine  with  him,  and  invited  him  to 
his  table.  He  did  not  have  time  to  raise  his  horse  to 
the  consulship,  but,  having  had  himself  made  pontifex, 
he  took  Incitatus  for  his  colleague  in  the  priestly  office. 
Such  follies  astonish  our  most  rabid  sportsmen  ;  but 
perhaps  they  only  caused  a  smile  to  curl  the  lips  of  the 
Romans,  who  were  conscious  that  they  all  had  a  taint 
of  this  mania  in  their  blood. 

The  charioteers  were  second  to  their  beasts  in  the  favor 

charioteers         of  the  people,  and  yet  they  were  treated  in  a  manner 

lionized.  '  3 

to  satisfy  the  most  exacting.  They  were  lionized  ;  if 
they  appeared  in  public  a  numerous  retinue  of  faithful 
admirers  surrounded  them.  They  could  with  impunity 
indulge  in  excesses  the  most  intolerable.  From  the 
beginning  of  the  empire  the  shameful  custom  was 
established  of  allowing  them,  on  certain  days,  to  wander 
through  the  city,  committing,  as  if  in  fun,  tricks  of 
cheating  and  theft.  Under  Nero  a  law  was  passed  to 
check  this  singular  license,  but  it  could  not  put  an  end 
to  the  insolence  and  effrontery  of  these  drivers.  Had 
they  not  succeeded  in  winning  all  that  heart  could 
desire — fortune  and  honors?  Did  not  Caligula  make 
The  effrontery  to  Eutyches  a  present  of  2,000,000  sesterces  (about 
charioteers.  $85,000)?  Did  he  not  employ  the  praetorians  to  con- 


Amusements.  197 


struct  stables  for  the  horses  of  this  favored  driver? 
Did  not  Elagabalus  raise  the  mother  of  the  charioteer 
Hierocles  from  the  condition  of  slavery  to  consular  rank  ? 
The  people  were  partly  responsible  for  the  extrava- 
gance of  the  emperors  ;  at  the  circus  they  would  take 
the  side  of  a  certain  faction,  and  applaud  the  charioteers 
who  represented  it.  Their  enthusiasm  for  the  greens  or 
the  blues  was  among  the  liveliest  passions  which  they 
were  capable  of  feeling.  What,  then,  were  these  fac- 

.  .    ,  i  ,  ,  .  The  factions. 

tions  which  are  mentioned  so  frequently  by  the  histo- 
rians of  the  Roman  Empire  ? 

As  the  magnificence  of  the  games  constantly  in- 
creased, it  became  impossible  for  the  donors  to  meet 
the  expense  which  was  involved.  Companies  were 
then  formed  of  capitalists  and  owners  of  studs  who 
undertook  the  running  of  the  games.  As  there  were 
usually  four  chariots  which  entered  the  lists  at  a  time  to 
contend  for  the  prize,  so  there  were  four  great  com- 
panies who  were  distinguished  by  the  color  of  their 
chariots  and  the  tunics  of  their  drivers  Hence  we 
have  the  four  factions  represented  by  the  colors  white, 
red,  blue,  and  green.  Domitian  established  two  new 
factions — the  purple  and  the  gold.  It  seems  that  later 
the  blues  and  the  greens  absorbed  the  other  factions. 
This  must  have  been  an  important  event,  for  these 
were  the  colors  which  especially  excited  the  passions  of  Thepowerof 
the  people,  more  even  than  the  betting  or  the  skill  of  ^cite'the  l° 
the  drivers.  Pliny,  in  the  following  letter,  laments  this  Pe°P|e- 
symptom  of  intellectual  and  moral  decadence  : 

I  have  spent  these  several  days  past  in  reading  and  writing, 
with  the  most  pleasing  tranquillity  imaginable.  You  will  ask, 
"  How  can  that  possibly  be  in  the  midst  of  Rome  ?  "  It  was 
the  time  of  celebrating  the  Circensian  games,  an  entertainment 
for  which  I  have  not  the  least  taste.  They  have  no  novelty, 


198  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

no  variety  to  recommend  them,  nothing,  in  short,  one  would 
wish  to  see  twice.  It  does  the  more  surprise  me,  therefore, 
that  so  many  thousand  people  should  be  possessed  with  the 
childish  passion  of  desiring  so  often  to  see  a  parcel  of  horses 
gallop,  and  men  standing  upright  in  their  chariots.  If,  indeed, 
it  were  the  swiftness  of  the  horses  or  the  skill  of  the  men  that 
attracted  them,  there  might  be  some  pretense  of  reason  for  it. 
But  it  is  the  dress  they  like  ;  it  is  the  dress  that  takes  their 

fancy.     And  if,  in  the  midst  of  the  course  and  contest,  the 
Pliny  s  lament. 

different  parties  were  to  change  colors,  their  different  partisans 

would  change  sides,  and  instantly  desert  the  very  same  men 
and  horses  whom  just  before  they  were  eagerly  following  with 
their  eyes,  as  far  as  they  could  see,  and  shouting  out  their 
names  with  all  their  might.  Such  mighty  charms,  such  won- 
drous power  reside  in  the  color  of  a  paltry  tunic  !  And  this 
not  only  with  the  common  crowd  (more  contemptible  than  the 
dress  they  espouse),  but  even  with  serious-thinking  people. 
When  I  observe  such  men  thus  insatiably  fond  of  so  silly,  so 
low,  so  uninteresting,  so  common  an  entertainment,  I  con- 
gratulate myself  on  my  indifference  to  these  pleasures  ;  and 
am  glad  to  employ  upon  my  books  the  leisure  of  this  season, 
which  others  throw  away  upon  the  most  idle  occupations. 
Farewell. 

But  what  could  avail  against  this  general  frenzy  the 
words  of  a  few  literary  men  ? 

Gladiatorial  Next  to  the  chariot  races,   the  gladiatorial  contests 

attracted  the  population  of  Rome. 

The  amphitheaters,  where  these  contests  took  place, 
were  at  first,  like  the  circus,  constructed  of  wood. 
Their  architecture  was  a  modification  of  that  of  the 
Greek  theaters.  In  the  year  53  B.  C.  Caius  Scribonius 
Curio  built,  according  to  Pliny  the  Elder,  a  double 
theater,  composed  of  two  semi-circular  wooden  theaters 

A  double  set  on  pivots>   so  tnat  they  could  be  whirled  around, 

spectators  and  all.  When  turned  back  to  back  they 
formed  two  separate  theaters,  and  when  turned  face  to 
face  they  formed  an  amphitheater  of  the  usual  shape  in 


Amusements. 


199 


which  all  the  spectators  faced  the  center.  In  the 
morning  dramatic  exhibitions  could  be  given  in  the  two 
theaters  separately,  and  in  the  afternoon  the  two 
assemblies  of  spectators,  without  having  been  disturbed, 
could  be  thrown  into  one,  and  could  witness  together  a 
gladiatorial  show. 

But  soon  buildings  were  erected  on  purpose  for  these 

Construction  of 

shows.     Wood  alone  was  used  in  the  construction  of  amphitheaters. 


THE  CoLossEt'M  AT  ROME. 


the  amphitheaters  of  Julius  Caesar  and  of  Nero.  But 
during  the  ten  last  years  of  the  first  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  under  the  Flavian  emperors,  that  colossal 
structure  of  stone  was  built  which  well  deserves  its 
name,  the  Colosseum,  and  which  we  still  admire  as  the  Colosseum 
most  imposing  relic  of  a  crumbled  world. 

At  first  the  gladiatorial  shows  were  closely  associated 
with  religion.  They  constituted  a  part  of  funeral  cere- 
monies. Instead  of  sacrificing  defenseless  men  on  the 
tomb  of  the  dead,  it  seemed  less  cruel  to  make  them 


2oo  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

fight  and  kill  each  other  ;  it  was,   to  use  Tertullian's 

Origin  of  the       expression,  a  more  humane  atrocity.     The  first  contest 

show3  °'  of  this  sort  was  witnessed  by  the  Romans  in  264  B.  C. , 

when  Marcus  and  Decimus  Brutus,  at  the  obsequies  of 

their  father,   had  three  pairs  of  gladiators  fight  in  the 

cattle  market. 

This  kind  of  spectacle  was  rapidly  developed.  Its 
original  object  was  soon  forgotten  ;  gladiatorial  contests 
were  not  long  limited  to  funerals,  but  were  given  a 
place  in  almost  all  public  solemnities  and  entertain- 
ments. They  became  so  popular  that  the  magistrates 
felt  obliged  upon  their  entrance  into  office  to  amuse  the 
people  with  them,  and  candidates  would  give  them  as  a 
The  alarming  means  of  winning  votes.  It  even  became  necessary  to 

development  of  .-,...  ,  . 

the  gladiatorial  pass  a  law  limiting  the  number  of  gladiators  that  might 
be  brought  forward  upon  a  single  occasion.  But  this 
law  did  not  prevent  Julius  Caesar,  in  65  B.  C. ,  from 
giving  a  spectacle  in  which  three  hundred  pairs  of 
combatants  fought  at  once.  Certainly  progress  had 
been  made  in  the  two  centuries  since  Marcus  and 
Decimus  Brutus.  But  the  limit  had  not  been  reached. 
In  the  games  given  by  Augustus  ten  thousand  men 
descended  into  the  arena,  and  Trajan,  when  he  cele- 
brated his  victory  over  the  peoples  of  the  Danube, 
exhibited  the  same  number. 

The  Romans  were  not  satisfied  with  the  tragic  emo- 
tions which  these  vast  slaughters  must  have  excited  in 
them  ;  they  brought  to  the  amphitheater  their  taste  for 
sumptuous  elegance  and  their  refined  curiosity.  The 
victims  in  these  bloody  sports  had  to  array  themselves 
for  death  in  brilliant  apparel.  At  the  games  which 

The  dress  of       Julius    Cassar    gave   as   aedile,    the    equipment   of    the 

nts'  gladiators  was  silver  ;  at  games  given  by  Nero  it  was  of 

amber,  or  at  least  of  amber  mosaic  work.     The  people 


Atmisements.  201 


required  also  that  there  should  be  variety  in  the  spec- 
tacle ;  and  therefore  it  was  necessary  that  the  combat- 
ants should  be  of  different  races,  and  should  exhibit 
their  skill  in  the  use  of  their  national  weapons.  So  the 
Samnites,  the  Thracians,  and  the  Gauls,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded in  amusing  the  people  under  the  republic,  gave 
place,  under  the  empire,  to  tattooed  savages  from  the 
island  of  Britain,  to  blond  Germans  from  the  banks  of 
the  Danube,  to  Suebi  and  Dacians,  to  dusky  Moors, 
brought  from  the  villages  of  Atlas,  to  negroes  from  the 
interior  of  Africa,  and  to  the  nomads  from  some  steppe 
of  the  region  now  known  as  Russia. 

How  was  the  army  of  gladiators  recruited  ? 

When    a    man    committed   a    capital   crime,   such  as   Recruitai  of 

1-1  M  •  j-      •  u  gladiators. 

highway  robbery,  sacrilege,  or  incendiarism,  he  was 
sent  to  one  of  the  gladiatorial  schools,  of  which  we 
shall  presently  speak.  But  Roman  citizens  were  not 
liable  to  this  punishment.  Another  source  of  supply 
was  furnished  by  prisoners  of  war.  Slaves  also  were 
often  trained  as  gladiators,  their  masters  having  during 
the  first  century  of  the  empire  the  unrestricted  right  to 
sell  them  for  the  arena.  Hadrian,  however,  tried  to 
put  a  stop  to  this  by  law.  But  the  slaves  themselves 
were  not  unwilling  to  enter  the  schools  of  gladiators. 
For  was  not  this  a  means,  perilous  without  doubt,  but 
quick,  of  escaping  from  servitude?  At  the  end  of 
three  years  they  might  receive  an  honorable  discharge 
from  the  arena,  in  token  of  which  a  foil  would  be 
presented  to  them,  and  at  the  end  of  five  years  they 
might  even  win  their  freedom  and  have  the  right  to 
wear  the  pileus,  or  liberty-cap.  The  ranks  of  the 
gladiators  were  also  recruited  by  freedmen  and  Roman 
citizens,  who  having  squandered  their  estates  vol- 
unteered to  bind  themselves  to  a  trainer  of  gladiators 


2O2 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


The  popu- 
larity of 
gladiators. 


for  a  certain  time.  Even  men  of  birth  and  fortune 
sometimes  entered  the  lists  to  gratify  their  pure  love  of 
fighting. 

When  we  consider  the  perils  of  such  a  profession, 

when  we  remember 
the  infamy  with 
which  it  was  branded 
by  the  Roman  law, 
we  are  tempted  to 
suppose  that  the 
number  of  these  vol- 
unteers must  have 
been  very  limited. 
But  such  was  not  the 
fact.  The  gladiators 
enjoyed  a  popularity 
almost  equal  to  that 
of  the  charioteers  of 
the  circus.  Al- 
though under  the 
ban  of  society,  they 
were  often  the  favor- 
ites  of  fashion. 
Their  portraits  were 
displayed  in  shop 
windows  ;  they  were 
multiplied  upon 
vases,  glass  lamps, 
and  gems,  and,  what 
was  not  less  flatter- 

GLADIATOR  IN  MOSAIC.     National  Museum,  !  n  g  >      they     were 

Naples-  sketched    as    deco- 

rations upon  walls.  Like  our  legendary  bandits,  they 
made  fair  ladies  sigh,  and  society  women  thought  it 


Amusements.  203 


quite  the  thing  to  have  a  gladiator  for  a  lover.  Juvenal, 
in  one  of  his  satires,  expresses  his  disgust  at  this  con- 
dition of  public  morals  : 

The  influence 
Hippia,  who  shared  a  rich  patrician  s  bed,  of  gladiators 

To  Egypt  with  a  gladiator  fled.  over  women- 

Without  one  pang  the  profligate  resigned 

Her  husband,  sister,  sire  ;  gave  to  the  wind 

Her  children's  tears  ;  yea,  tore  herself  away 

(To  strike  you  more) — from  Paris  and  the  Play  ! 

And  though,  in  affluence  born,  her  infant  head 

Had  pressed  the  down  of  an  embroidered  bed, 

She  braved  the  deep  (she  long  had  braved  her  fame  ; 

But  this  is  little — to  the  courtly  dame) 

And,  with  undaunted  breast,  the  changes  bore, 

Of  many  a  sea,  the  swelling  and  the  roar. 

To  win  such  glorious  triumphs,  to  make  such  brilliant 
conquests,  it  was  not  necessary  for  the  combatants  of 
the  circus  to  have  the  beauty  of  an  Adonis.  It  was 
their  profession  that  the  ladies  loved.  For  Juvenal 
continues  : 

But  by  what  youthful  charms,  what  shape,  what  air, 

Was  Hippia  won?    The  wanton  well  might  dote  !  The  fascinating 

For  the  sweet  Sergius  long  had  scraped  his  throat,  qualities  of  a 

Long  looked  for  leave  to  quit  the  public  stage, 

Maimed  in  his  limbs,  and  verging  now  to  age. 

Add,  that  his  face  was  battered  and  decayed  ; 

The  helmet  on  his  brow  huge  galls  had  made, 

A  wen  deformed  his  nose,  of  monstrous  size, 

And  sharp  rheum  trickled  from  his  bloodshot  eyes  ; 

But  then  he  was  a  swordsman  !  that  alone 

Made  every  charm  and  every  grace  his  own  ; 

That  made  him  dearer  than  her  nuptial  vows, 

Dearer  than  country,  sister,  children,  spouse — 

'Tis  blood  they  love  ;  let  Sergius  quit  the  sword, 

And  he'll  appear,  at  once — so  like  her  lord  ! 

Did  not  the  women,   by  their  attitude  of  adoration 


204  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

toward   prize-fighters,    supply  young  men   in   quest  of 

fortune  with  a  very  strong  motive  for  scorning  danger 

and  public  opinion  ?     And  for  many  youths  was  it  not 

The  aristocracy  a  pleasure  merely  to  shock  staid  and  proper  people  ? 

in  the  arena.  r  *    t  r  _   \         r      r 

The  Roman  patrician,  who  found  himself  in  the  first 
years  of  the  empire  no  longer  important,  sought  for 
means  to  make  himself  talked  about  ;  many  a  young 
noble,  who  bore  a  name  honored  in  the  ancient  re- 
public, experienced  a  strange  delight  in  herding  with 
the  rabble,  and  tried  to  win  celebrity  by  the  excess  of 
his  degradation.  So  it  was  not  unusual  for  repre- 
sentatives of  the  aristocracy  to  descend  into  the  arena. 
Such  a  one  was  Gracchus,  whom  Juvenal  in  one  of  his 
satires  describes  : 

Gracchus  Gracchus  steps  forth  :  No  sword  his  thigh  invests — 

No  helmet,  shield — such  armor  he  detests, 
Detests  and  spurns  ;  and  impudently  stands, 
With  the  poised  net  and  trident  in  his  hands. 
The  foe  advances — lo  !  a  cast  he  tries, 
But  misses,  and  in  frantic  terror  flies 
Round  the  thronged  Cirque  ;  and,  anxious  to  be  known, 
Lifts  his  bare  face,  with  many  a  piteous  moan. 
"  'Tis  he  !  'tis  he  ! — I  know  the  Salian  vest, 
With  golden  fringes,  pendant  from  the  breast ; 
The  Salian  bonnet,  from  whose  pointed  crown 
The  glittering  ribbons  float  redundant  down. 
O  spare  him,  spare  !  " — The  brave  pursuer  heard 
And,  blushing,  stopped  the  chase  ;  for  he  preferred 
Wounds,  death  itself,  to  the  contemptuous  smile, 
Of  conquering  one  so  noble,  and — so  vile  ! 

For  those  who  sought  neither  the  love  of  women  nor 
Fortunes  made  the  notoriety  of  degradation,  the  desire  of  gain  was  a 
sufficient  motive  to  recommend  to  them  the  gladiator's 
profession.  Through  it  they  could  speedily  make  their 
fortunes ;  and  although  some  discharged  gladiators, 
probably  lawless  by  nature,  tramped  the  highways  as 


Amusements.  205 


beggars,  many  others  who  preferred  a  regular  life  re- 
tired after  having  made  their  fortunes  into  some  beauti- 
ful country  house. 

In  spite  of  all  precautions,  the  games  of  the  arena 
became  so  wonderfully  popular,  the  destruction  of  men 
was  on  so  large  a  scale,  that  sometimes  combatants 
were  lacking.  Then  the  laws  which  regulated  their 
recruital  were  unscrupulously  disregarded.  Conscrip-  Conscriptions, 
tions  and  arbitrary  imperial  acts  were  resorted  to.  The 
number  of  criminals  figuring  in  the  arenas  of  the  time  is 
so  great  in  fact  that  it  excites  our  suspicion  as  to  the 
justice  of  the  decisions  by  which  they  had  been  con- 
demned. Agrippa,  king  of  the  Jews,  produced  in  the 
amphitheater  of  Beirut  1,400  wretches,  all  accused  of 
capital  crimes,  and  Hadrian,  upon  one  occasion,  made 
300  fight.  The  judges  of  the  time  would  have  had 
their  hands  full  if  they  had  been  obliged  to  observe  all 
the  legal  forms  in  passing  sentence  upon  such  multi- 
tudes. The  judicial  proceedings  must  then  have  been 
very  summary  ;  and  often  sentences  were  executed 
before  being  pronounced  to  avoid  loss  of  time. 

For  the  training  of  those  who  chose  the  profession 

....  ii'iiTTi         Gladiatorial 

of  gladiator,  schools  were  early  established.  Under  schools. 
Domitian  four  such  schools  were  founded — the  Great 
School,  the  Gallic  School,  the  Dacian  School,  and  the 
School  for  Beast-fighters.  These  schools  were  care- 
fully supervised  and  conducted  on  scientific  principles. 
Besides  the  sleeping  apartments  for  the  pupils  (and 
what  pupils  !)  they  contained  each  one  an  arsenal,  a 
workshop  for  manufacturing  arms,  and,  what  was  very 
essential,  a  chamber  in  which  to  lay  out  the  dead.  A 
large  faculty  of  instructors  and  officers  of  administration 
was  connected  with  each  institution.  These  strange 
schools  were  all  under  the  control  of  the  emperor,  who 


206 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


A  school  at 
Pompeii. 


The  discipline 
of  the  schools. 


Grading 
system  in  the 
schools. 


usually  appointed  for  superintendents  men  of  eques- 
trian rank,  and  often  retired  military  officers. 

Some  of  these  gladiatorial  schools  were  located  out- 
side of  Rome.  There  was  one  at  Capua,  one  at 
Praeneste,  and  one  at  Alexandria.  One  has  been  ex- 
cavated at  Pompeii.  It  is  a  vast  quadrangular  area, 
973  feet  long  by  139  feet  wide,  surrounded  by  chambers 
about  ten  feet  square,  without  windows,  opening  upon 
the  court  within.  These  cells,  seventy  in  number, 
belonged  to  the  gladiators.  There  is  no  trace  of  com- 
fort about  them. 

The  discipline  of  these  schools  was  very  severe.  The 
men  who  devoted  themselves  to  the  business  of  prize 
fighting  were  likely  to  be  dangerous.  So  when  not 
performing  upon  the  arena  they  were  disarmed  and 
kept  in  strict  confinement.  Soldiers  were  employed  to 
maintain  order ;  every  infraction  of  the  rules  was 
severely  punished,  often  by  the  application  of  the  whip 
or  of  hot  irons  ;  and  we  cannot  suppose  that  the 
wretches  who  were  subjected  to  this  treatment  found 
adequate  compensation  for  so  much  suffering  in  the 
careful  provisions  that  were  made  to  keep  them  in  good 
physical  condition. 

It  was  probably  as  a  precaution  against  revolt  among 
the  pupils  of  these  schools  that  they  were  compelled 
constantly  to  practise  gymnastic  exercises.  They  were 
frequently  subjected  to  physical  tests,  and  they  were 
graded  according  to  their  skill  and  their  endurance. 
Thus  there  was  established  among  them  a  sort  of 
hierarchy.  In  the  lowest  rank  were  the  novices,  the 
recruits,  who  could  only  lunge  at  the  wall  ;  with  heavy, 
blunt  swords  they  had  to  thrust  against  a  manikin. 
Later,  when  they  had  been  tried  in  a  real  combat,  if 
they  acquitted  themselves  honorably  they  were  re- 


Amusements.  207 


warded  with  a  rectangular  plate  bearing  the  date  of 
their  advancement,  and  henceforth  they  were  veterans. 
Through  later  achievements  they  rose  in  rank  step  by 
step. 

In  the  equipment  of  gladiators  and  in  their  manner  of 
fighting  there  was  great  variety.  To  enumerate  and 
describe  the  fifteen  kinds  of  gladiators  who  ordinarily 
appeared  in  the  arena  belongs  rather  to  a  treatise  on 
archaeology  than  to  a  history  of  manners.  Without 
trying,  then,  to  give  the  complete  catalogue,  we  shall 
be  satisfied  with  indicating  the  principal  kinds.  There  Methocjs  of 
were  the  Andabatce,  who  wore  helmets  without  any  fishtins- 
aperture  for  the  eyes,  so  that  they  afforded  mirth  to  the 
spectators  by  fighting  blindfold  ;  the  Dimachceri,  who 
used  two  swords  ;  the  Eguestres,  mail-clad  horsemen, 
like  the  medieval  knights,  who  rushed  against  each 
other  across  the  arena  ;  the  Essedarii,  who,  mounted 
in  chariots,  hurled  missiles  at  each  other,  or  alighted  to 
engage  in  hand-to-hand  sword  combat ;  the  Hoplomachi, 
whose  entire  bodies,  with  the  exception  of  the  breast, 
were  protected  by  heavy  armor.  Foreign  gladiators 
used  their  national  weapons,  and  fought  in  the  fashion 
of  their  own  country.  Surely  the  sovereign  people 
had  the  opportunity  of  becoming  familiar  with  the 
various  ways  in  which  people  killed  each  other. 

As  the  day  approached  when  a  gladiatorial  spectacle 
was  to  take  place,  the  donors  of  the  entertainment 
neglected  no  means  of  advertising  it.  Handbills  gave 
to  the  people  all  the  details  which  might  interest  or 
attract  them.  The  following  announcement,  for  in- 
stance, has  been  discovered  at  Pompeii :  "  The  gladia- 
tors of  the  aedile  A.  Suettius  Curius  will  fight  May  3ist 
at  Pompeii.  There  will  be  beast-fighting,  and  the 
spectators  will  be  well  sheltered  by  an  awning."  This 


208 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


Before  the 
combat. 


last  assurance  was  very  important,  for  sometimes  it 
happened  that  the  pleasure  of  the  occasion  would  be 
interfered  with  by  the  rain  or  the  hot  sun.  So  when  a 


"AvE,  C/ESAR,  IMPERATOR."    From  a  painting  by  Gerome. 

donor  could  not  take  the  precaution  that  A.  Suettius 
Curius  took,  he  inserted  in  his  handbill  the  clause,  "if 
the  weather  permits." 

The  day  before  the  combat  the  gladiators  sat  down 
to  a  public  feast.  This  was  the  prelude  to  the  spec- 
tacle, more  interesting  for  the  observer  than  the  spec- 
tacle itself.  What  a  sight  they  were  !  Those  who  had 
not  yet  lost  all  human  feelings  would  bid  farewell  to 
their  beloved  ones,  while  the  others,  who  had  been 
brutalized  by  their  occupation,  would  gorge  them- 
selves with  the  meats  and  wines,  careless  of  the  mor- 
row. At  the  appointed  hour  they  all  descended  into  the 
arena.  In  full  dress  they  passed  in  procession  before  the 
donor  of  the  entertainment,  at  Rome  before  the  em- 
peror, whom  they  saluted  in  the  famous  words,  ' '  Caesar, 
those  who  are  about  to  die  salute  thee. "  Then  an 


Amusements.  209 


officer  examined  their  swords  to  see  if  they  were  suf- 
ficiently sharp,  and  this  formality  concluded  the  spec- 
tacle began. 

First  there  was  sham  fighting,  exhibitions  of  skilful   c 

Sham  fighting. 

fencing.  Soon  the  trumpets  gave  the  awful  signal  for 
the  slaughter  to  begin,  and  the  conflict  was  taken  up  in 
earnest  to  the  sound  of  horns,  fifes,  and  flutes  ;  such 
music,  well  worthy  of  accompanying  such  a  spectacle, 
must  have  produced  discords  which  would  have  grated 
upon  sensitive  ears.  By  turns  appeared  the  different 
kinds  of  combatants  which  we  have  enumerated,  and  The  conflict, 
also  others  whose  equipment  and  methods  of  fighting 
were  amusing  by  reason  of  their  oddity  ;  for  instance, 
there  were  the  Retiarii,  or  net-fighters,  who  were  pro- 
vided with  a  net  to  cast  about  their  antagonists,  so  as  to 
entangle  them  in  its  meshes  before  attempting  to  stab 
them. 

When  a  combatant  is  seriously  wounded  and  unable 
to  defend  himself  longer,  his  life  or  death  depends  upon  vanquished.  '* 
the  pleasure  of  the  president,  who  usually  allows  the 
people  to  decide  the  fate  of  the  miserable  man. 
Stretched  upon  the  ground,  the  wounded  gladiator 
raises  his  finger  as  a  token  of  submission  ;  the  crowd 
shout,  clap  their  hands,  wave  handkerchiefs — he  is 
saved  ;  they  depress  their  thumbs  in  silence — the  con- 
queror plunges  his  sword  into  the  helpless  body  of  the 
victim. 

In  the  intervals  between  these  horrible  dramas, 
attendants  rush  in,  drag  off  the  corpse  by  a  hook  to  an 
apartment  for  the  slain,  turn  over  the  bloody  earth  of 
the  arena  with  spades,  and  sprinkle  fresh  sand. 

The  public  were  not  always  satisfied  with  single  com- 
bats ;  and  the  emperors  sometimes  gave  them  the 
pleasure  of  witnessing  wholesale  slaughters.  For  such  slaughter. 


2IO 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


The  sack  of  a 
village. 


Mock  sea- 
fights. 


an  exhibition  the  amphitheater  was  too  small,  and 
larger  places  were  sought.  Julius  Caesar  gave,  in  the 
Circus  Maximus,  the  representation  of  a  battle  in  which 
five  hundred  foot  soldiers  and  three  hundred  cavalry- 
men took  part,  besides  twenty  elephants,  carrying  upon 
their  backs  towers  filled  with  armed  men.  Claudius, 
after  the  conquest  of  the  island  of  Britain  in  44  A.  D., 
gave  a  representation  on  the  Campus  Martius  of  the 
taking  and  the  sack  of  a  village  of  that  country.  He 
himself  presided  over  this  exhibition,  dressed  in  a 


"  POLLICE  VERSO."    From  a  painting  by  Gerome. 

military  cloak.  Claudius  understood  well  how  to  ob- 
tain good  scenic  effects,  for,  according  to  Suetonius, 
he  succeeded  in  producing  an  illusion  of  reality. 

The  historians  of  the  empire  frequently  mention 
mock  sea-fights.  The  people  insisted  upon  witnessing 
all  forms  of  death.  Julius  Caesar,  Augustus,  Caligula, 
and  Nero  gave  spectacles  of  this  kind.  But,  according 
to  Martial,  nothing  surpassed  the  magnificence  of  the 


Amusements.  211 


mock  sea-fights  of  Domitian  and  of  Titus,  as  the  follow- 
ing epigram  of  his  bears  witness  : 

Thetis  and  Galatea  have  beheld  in  the  waves  wild  animals 
previously  unknown  to  them.  Triton  has  seen  chariots  glow- 
ing along  the  foaming  ocean  course,  and  thought  the  steeds  of 
his  master  were  passing  before  him  ;  and  Nereus,  while  he 
was  preparing  fierce  contests  with  bold  vessels,  shrunk  from 
going  on  foot  through  the  liquid  ways.  Whatever  is  seen  in 
the  circus  and  the  amphitheater,  the  rich  lake  of  Caesar  has 
shown  to  thee.  Let  Fucinus  and  the  ponds  of  the  dire  Nero 
be  vaunted  no  more  ;  and  let  ages  to  come  remember  but  this 
one  sea-fight. 

In  enumerating  the  different  kinds  of  gladiators,  we 
purposely  omitted  to  mention  the  beast-fighters.  Their 
profession  deserves  a  separate  study. 

Early  in  the  history  of  Rome  we  find  isolated  in- 
stances of  criminals  who  were  punished  by  being  torn  Origin  of  beast- 
to  pieces  by  wild  animals.  In  186  B.  C. ,  M.  Fulvius 
Nobilior,  who  had  collected  a  large  number  of  lions 
and  panthers,  was  the  first  to  give  as  a  show  a  combat 
in  which  beasts  took  part.  Such  exhibitions  soon 
became  very  common  and  exceedingly  popular,  and 
they  were  classed  among  the  regular  spectacles,  like  the 
games  of  the  arena,  to  which  they  served  often  as  a 
prelude. 

The  conquest  of  Asia  and  of  Africa  must  have  been 
an  important  factor  in  the  development  of  this  form  of 
amusement.     In  these  recently  subdued  countries  vast 
expeditions  were  organized  to  procure  for  the  amphi-   Hunting 
theater  curious  or  ferocious  animals.     A  new  profession,   profession, 
even,  sprang  into  existence — that  of  hunting,  and  the 
•emperor  Macrinus,  before  his  elevation  to  the  throne, 
is   supposed   to   have   engaged   in  the   importation   of 
animals.     Certain  it  is  that  a  very  general  interest  was 
aroused  in  the  catching  of  wild  beasts,  as  many  treatises 


212  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


on  the  subject,  which  are  still  extant,  bear  witness. 
Nemesianus  describes  the  method  of  catching  bears, 
stags,  wolves,  and  foxes  in  nets  whose  meshes  are  con- 
cealed with  feathers  ;  ^lianus  tells  how  to  take  pan- 
thers in  Mauritania,  by  means  of  traps  in  which  spoiled 
meat  is  used  for  bait ;  Appianus  describes  another 
method  for  capturing  the  same  animal  ;  Achilles  Tatius, 
the  Alexandrine,  shows  how  the  hippopotamus  may  be 
allured  into  a  pit  ;  and  Diodorus  informs  his  readers 
how  the  same  animal  may  be  harpooned,  and  also  how 
the  crocodile  may  be  caught  in  a  net ;  Pausanias  de- 
scribes the  hunting  of  the  bison,  and  Arrianus  the 
lassoing  of  the  wild  ass  in  Numidia  by  horsemen. 

Hunting  we  see  had  become  an  art  at  this  time,  and 
sdentiffc0f  the  ^  seems  surprising  that  natural  history  under  such 
favorable  circumstances  did  not  make  more  progress. 
There  is  scarcely  any  fact  which  proves  in  a  more  con- 
clusive manner  than  this  the  absence  of  the  scientific 
spirit  among  the  Romans.  What  excellent  opportuni- 
ties for  observation  a  naturalist  would  have  had  in  the 
imperial  parks  and  menageries  !  The  collection  of  the 
emperor  Phillipus,  248  A.  D. ,  contained  thirty-two 
elephants,  ten  elks,  ten  tigers,  sixty  lions,  thirty  leop- 
ards, ten  hyenas,  one  rhinoceros,  one  hippopotamus, 
ten  giraffes,  twenty  wild  asses,  and  forty  wild  horses, 
besides  other  varieties  of  animals.  The  Romans  of  this 
time  saw  many  specimens  of  rare  animals,  which  have 
not  been  seen  since  in  Europe  until  recently.  While 
the  Zoological  Gardens  of  London  and  the  Jardin  des 
Plantes  of  Paris  have  experienced  much  difficulty  in 
obtaining  one  hippopotamus,  the  emperor  Commodus, 
as  a  mere  pastime,  killed  four  in  one  day.  In  the 
year  80  A.  D. ,  at  the  dedication  of  the  great  Flavian 
amphitheater,  Titus  exhibited  9,000  wild  animals  of 


Amusements.  213 


various  kinds,  and  Trajan,  at  his  second  Dacian  cele- 
bration, 1 66  A.  D.,  produced  in  the  arena  n,ooo 
beasts. 

Combats  in  which  animals  took  part  occurred  in  the 
morning,  beginning  at  dawn.  Lions  were  matched  Beast-fights, 
against  tigers,  elephants  against  bulls  ;  a  rhinoceros 
sometimes  was  made  to  contend  with  a  bear,  cranes 
fought  each  other,  and  wild  boars  did  likewise.  But 
the  interest  of  the  spectators  did  not  rise  to  its  height 
until  men  entered  the  lists  against  wild  beasts. 

The  beast-fighters  were  divided  into  two  classes  :  the 
beast-fighters  proper  and  the  hunters.  They  were  fighters!5 
drawn  from  the  same  sources  as  were  the  gladiators — 
from  among  prisoners  of  war,  criminals,  slaves,  and  a 
few  of  them  were  volunteers.  They  also  had  schools  in 
which  they  received  their  training. 

The  beast-fighters  proper  appeared  in  the  arena 
dressed  in  a  simple  tunic,  without  helmet,  buckler,  or 
cuirass.  Sometimes  even  their  right  arm  was  bound  ; 
the  only  weapon  allowed  them  was  a  lance,  or  rarely  a 
sword.  The  hunters,  who  seem  to  have  occupied  a 

,  .  ,      The  hunters. 

superior  rank  in  the  hierarchy,  were  better  armed. 
The  Parthians,  who  were  very  skilful  archers,  were 
probably  classed  among  the  hunters,  as  well  as  special- 
ists like  the  bull-fighters. 

Sometimes  it  happened    that  the  spectators  had  to 

Undisguised 

wait  too  long  for  the  sight  of  death  and  their  interest  brutality. 
flagged.  There  was  a  very  simple  remedy  for  this. 
A  criminal  was  bound  to  a  stake,  and  the  people  feasted 
their  eyes  on  the  victim's  agonies  as  he  was  torn  by  the 
wild  beasts.  Sometimes  also  (for  cruelty  is  ingenious) 
the  Romans  indulged  their  brutal  taste  for  reality  by 
making  some  bloody  spectacle  represent  a  mythological 
tale.  The  pantomime  of  Orpheus  is  an  illustration  of 


214  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


The  pantomime  thjs  form  of  spectacle.     The  part  of  the  Thracian  poet 

of  Orpheus. 

was  taken  by  a  condemned  criminal.  He  appeared 
coming  out  of  a  hole  in  the  ground  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  Hades.  All  nature  seemed  enchanted  by 
his  music  ;  the  trees  and  the  rocks  moved  from  their 
places  and  followed  him  ;  the  wild  animals,  as  if  tamed, 
surrounded  him.  But  soon,  when  this  idyllic  scene  had 
lasted  long  enough,  a  bear  was  let  loose,  which  fell 

upon  the   victim   and    tore   him   to 

pieces. 

Between    these    tragic    spectacles 

interludes  were  often  given  of  a  dif- 

ferent character.      Sometimes   they 
Exhibitions  of      Ofl  •  consisted  in  the  exhibition  of  trained 

trained  animals. 

animals.  Animal  trainers  were 
numerous  at  Rome  from  the  time  of 
Augustus  and  even  before.  Was 
not  Mark  Antony  seen  riding  with 
the  courtesan  Citheris  in  a  chariot 
drawn  by  lions  ?  We  may  say,  and 
we  say  it  without  much  regret,  that 
the  art  of  training  animals  has  pro- 
gressed but  little  since  this  time. 
What  prodigies  of  patience  must 
have  been  required  to  teach  lions  to 
catch  hares  in  the  arena,  and  then  to 
play  with  them  as  a  cat  does  with  a 
mouse,  and  finally  to  let  them  go  ! 

GREAVE.  & 

Stags  were  taught  to  obey  the  rein 

and  panthers   to   bear   the   yoke.       Peaceful  antelopes 

were  taught  to  be  fierce,  and  a  pair  of  these  animals,  so 

mild  by  nature,  would  fight  together  until  one  or  both 

Feats  per-          fell  dead.     With  the  elephants  especially  wonders  were 

«iennants.          accomplished.     They  could  exhibit  feats  of  dancing  and 


A  museme  nts.  215 


of  rope-walking.  Four  elephants  were  once  trained  to 
carry  a  fifth.  And  Pliny  the  Elder  narrates  that  out  of 
a  company  of  elephants  that  were  being  trained  to- 
gether, one  of  the  pupils,  who  was  slower  to  learn 
than  the  others,  was  discovered  one  night  repeating  his 
lesson. 

However  strange  it  may  seem,  we  cannot  deny  the 
fact  that  the  Romans  were  passionately  fond  of  bloody   Fondness  of 

•        '  *      the  Romans  for 

games.     Juvenal,   who  cherishes  so  many  noble  senti-   bloody  games. 

ments,  waxes  very  indignant  when  a  certain  patrician 

enters  a  gladiatorial  combat.      Is  it  because  the  satirist 

has  a  horror  of  bloodshed  ?     By  no  means  ;  he  thinks 

that  this  patrician  dishonors   his  noble  name,   not  his 

humanity.     Pliny  the  Younger,  whose  soul  was  so  full 

of  sweet  and  tender  feelings,  knows  of  no  better  way  for 

a  husband  afflicted  by  the  death  of  his  wife  to  honor  her 

dear  memory  than  for  him  to  give  a  gladiatorial  show. 

You  did  perfectly  right  [he  says  in  one  of  his  letters]  in 
promising  a  gladiatorial  combat  to  our  good  friends,  the  p^Jfo/a 
citizens  of  Verona,  who  have  long  loved,  looked  up  to,  and  gladiatorial 
honored  you  ;  while  it  was  from  that  city  too  you  received 
that  amiable  object  of  your  most  tender  affection,  your 
late  excellent  wife.  And  since  you  owed  some  monument  or 
public  representation  to  her  memory,  what  other  spectacle 
could  you  have  exhibited  more  appropriate  to  the  occasion  ? 
Besides,  you  were  so  unanimously  pressed  to  do  so  that  to 
have  refused  would  have  looked  more  like  hardness  than 
resolution.  The  readiness,  too,  with  which  you  granted  their 
petition  and  the  magnificent  manner  in  which  you  performed 
it  is  very  much  to  your  honor  ;  for  a  greatness  of  soul  is  seen 
in  these  smaller  instances,  as  well  as  in  matters  of  higher 
moment.  I  wish  the  African  panthers,  which  you  had  largely 
provided  for  this  purpose,  had  arrived  on  the  day  appointed, 
but  though  they  were  delayed  by  the  stormy  weather,  the 
obligation  to  you  is  equally  the  same,  since  it  was  not  your 
fault  that  they  were  not  exhibited.  Farewell. 


2i6  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

Pliny,  in  his  panegyric  addressed  to  Trajan,  praises 
orrnf'arT1186      *^e  emPeror  f°r  having  revived  the  taste  of  the  people 
for  these  frightful  spectacles  : 

Spectacles  have  been  given,  not  those  characterized  by 
effeminacy  and  corruption  which  tend  to  enervate  and  degrade 
the  mind,  but  those  which  teach  men  to  bear  wounds  with 
courage  and  to  scorn  death,  by  showing,  even  in  slaves  and 
criminals,  the  love  of  glory  and  the  desire  for  victory.  And 
what  magnificence  the  emperor  has  displayed  in  these  games  ! 
With  what  justice  he  has  presided,  entirely  free  from  preju- 
dice !  He  has  refused  nothing  that  the  people  asked  ;  he  has 
offered  what  they  did  not  ask  ;  and  more  than  this,  he  has 
invited  us  to  express  our  desires,  and  then  he  has  anticipated 
them  by  pleasant  surprises. 

Seneca's  protest  Seneca,  perhaps,  is  the  only  one  at  this  time  who 
bariwSofthebar  protested  against  this  barbarity  ;  and,  inspired  by  a 
games.  feeling  of  respect  for  human  life,  he  wrote  one  of  his 

most  eloquent  pages. 

It  happened  [he  says]  that  I  went  to  an  afternoon  entertain- 
ment. I  was  expecting  pleasant  games,  clever  jokes,  some 
kind  of  recreation  to  rest  my  eyes,  weary  with  the  sight  of 
human  blood.  What  a  mistake  was  mine  !  Former  contests 
were  child's  play.  All  trifling  is  put  aside  and  there  is  nothing 
but  unrelieved  assassination.  The  combatants  have  no  de- 
fensive armor :  their  naked  breasts  are  exposed.  Not  a 
An  afternoon  s  .  ' 

entertainment,  stroke  which  does  not  do  its  work.  .  .  .  What  is  the  use 
of  shields?  or  of  skill?  Such  things  only  postpone  death.  In 
the  morning  men  are  thrown  as  food  to  the  lions  and  bears, 
and  in  the  afternoon  to  the  spectators.  .  .  .  The  issue  of 
every  combat  is  death.  .  .  . 

"  But,"  my  neighbor  says  to  me,  "  that  man  whom  you  pity 
was  a  highway  robber." 

"  Very  well,  let  him  hang." 

"  But  he  killed  a  man." 

"Let  him  be  condemned  to  death,  in  his  turn.  He  de- 
serves it.  But  you,  what  have  you  done,  wretch,  that  you 
should  be  condemned  to  behold  such  a  spectacle  ?  " 

Then  the  people  cry  out, 


Amusements.  217 


"  Kill  him  !  strike  him  !  burn  him  !    Why  does  he  meet  the 
sword  so  timidly  ?    Why  strike  back  with  so  little  courage  ?   The  people 
Why  die  so  reluctantly  ? ' '  ft  ofbfcd. 

They  inflict  upon  each  other  wound  after  wound. 

"  Bravo  !    Aim  at  the  breast.     Give  it  to  him  !  " 

At  last  there  is  an  intermission  in  the  spectacle. 

"While  we  are  waiting,  let's  have  the  men  killed,  that  no 
time  be  lost." 

Ah  !  Romans,  do  you  not  understand  that  evil  deeds  return 
upon  those  who  commit  them  ? 

These  noble  sentiments,  clothed  in  such  strong  and 
emotional  language,  will  be  expressed  later  by  Christian 
preachers  and  writers.  But  not  a  man  of  them  will 
make  a  more  stirring  appeal  than  the  last  philosopher 
of  antiquity,  not  one  will  proclaim  with  more  eloquence 
the  great  principle  "  man  is  sacred  to  man." 

The  loss  of  liberty,  this  taste  for  coarse  or  bloody 
representations  of  reality,  scarcely  allowed  the  true 
theater  to  exist  under  the  empire. 

The   decadence   of    the   drama    had   already   begun 

11    r  The  decadence 

toward  the  close  of  the  republic.  As  the  small  farm-  of  the  drama, 
ers  disappeared  the  division  grew  more  and  more 
marked  between  the  two  classes  who  listened  to  the 
tragedies  of  Ennius  and  of  Pacuvius,  and  the  comedies 
of  Plautus  and  of  Terence  ;  the  knights  became  more 
refined  and  more  rare,  and  the  common  people  coarser 
and  more  numerous.  The  ' '  Clytemnestra ' '  of  Attius 
was  tolerated  only  because  the  action  called  for  an 
interminable  procession  of  mules  ;  the  attraction  in 
' '  The  Trojan  Horse ' '  of  Naevius  was  the  exhibition 
of  three  thousand  craters  (mixing  bowls  for  wine).  A 
certain  actor  would  be  applauded  before  he  opened 
his  mouth,  because  he  wore  a  violet  robe,  dyed  at 
Tarentum.  The  costume  and  the  scenery  were  what 
drew  people  to  the  theater.  The  pleasure  to  the  ears 


218 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


The  theaters 
of  Rome. 


The  Atellan. 


was  nothing,  the  pleasure  to  the  eyes  was  everything. 

And  yet  Rome  had  three  magnificent  theaters  :  that 
of  Pompey,  which  seated  as  many  as  40,000  spectators, 
that  of  Balbus,  which  seated  30,000,  and  that  of  Mar- 
cellus,  which  seated  20,000.  Dramatic  representations 
were  frequently  given  ;  on  festival  days  probably  all  the 
theaters  were  in  use  at  once.  But  these  entertainments 
were  much  less  popular  than  those  of  the  circus  or  the 
arena ;  the  actors  were  not  such  favorites  as  the  char- 
ioteers and  the  gladiators. 

But  the  donors  of  the  dramatic  representations  did 
not  scruple  to  make  concessions  to  the  taste  of  their 
audiences.  There  were  no  plays  which  made  a  study 
of  character  or  a  profound  and  delicate  analysis  of  the 
passions.  An  attempt  to  introduce  such  plays  would 
have  been  useless. 

The  two  varieties  of  the  drama  which  prevailed  under 

the  empire,  the 

KT™ 

. i    only  ones  which 

^•••^^^^'•^••^^^•MMMMMH^MMKJ^^nDa^^m 

'  iff  Bg,  I    the  public  seem 

to  have  toler- 
ated, were  the 
Atellan  and  the 
mime. 

The  Atellan 
was  already 
popular  at 
Rome  about  the 
second  century  before  Christ.  It  was  of  Etruscan 
origin,  and  it  was  easier  to  represent  on  the  stage  than 
the  farces  and  comedies  of  Greek  origin.  The  Atellan, 
briefly,  was  a  comic  play  in  which  the  dialogue  was 
largely  extemporaneous.  The  actors  were  supplied 
with  a  certain  theme  and  then  improvised  their  parts. 


THEATER  AT  HERCULANEUM.     Restoration. 


Amusements.  219 


The  Atellan  is  the  prototype  of  what  is  called  in  Italy 
to-day  the  Commedia  delT  arte.  Furthermore,  the 
characters  in  the  Atellan  were  all  masked.  The  Roman 
youths  therefore  could  appear  in  it  as  actors  without 
losing  caste. 

About  the  time  of  Sulla  two  men  of  talent.  Pompo-   _ 

Pompomus  and 

nius   and    Novius,    wrote   Atellans   in   a   truly   literary   Novms. 
style ;  after  this  the  fortune  of  the  Atellan  was  secure. 
It  had  won  the  favor  of  the  people,  and  it  kept  it  until 
the  end  of  the  empire. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  comprehend  the  popularity  of  the 

The  subjects  of 

Atellans  if  we  consider  the  subjects  which  they  treated,  the  Atellans. 
They  represented  scenes  from  country  life  and  from  the 
lives  of  workmen  and  shopkeepers,  and  this  could  not 
fail  to  please  the  low  tastes  of  the  public  which  hence- 
forth laid  down  the  law  to  the  theater.  Some  of  the 
titles  of  these  dramas  have  been  preserved  :  ' '  The 
Cowherd,"  "The  Vintagers,"  "The  Baker,"  "The 
Sick  Pig,"  "The  Fishermen,"  "The  Fullers,"  "The 
Slave  Merchant,"  etc.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
caricature  in  these  plays  and  the  wit  was  broad  and 
vulgar. 

However,  the  freedom  of  the  Atellans  was  reserve 
and  good  taste,  charming  elegance,  as  Donatus,  the 
teacher  of  Saint  Jerome,  says,  compared  to  the  obscenity 
of  the  mimes. 

The  mimes,  like  the  Atellans,  became  popular  about 

t  •  rr-ii  TI  •  <•    T    1-         x-«  1        r    The  indecency 

the  time  of  Sulla.  In  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  and  of  ofthe  mime?. 
Augustus  flourished  the  celebrated  mimographers  Deci- 
mus  Laberius,  Publius  Syrus,  and  C.  Mattius.  These 
writers,  by  their  talent,  elevated  the  farce  to  the  dignity 
of  literature,  but  they  could  not  overcome  the  power  of 
tradition,  and  obscenity  seemed  to  be  the  law  of  this 
species  of  composition.  Ovid,  who  certainly  does  not 


220  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

err  by  excess  of  prudery,  expresses  indignation  upon 
seeing  women  at  these  representations  : 

It  is  not  simply  that  the  language  defiles  their  ears  ;  their 
eyes  become  accustomed  to  the  most  indecent  scenes.  If  a 
faithless  wife  has  invented  a  new  trick  to  deceive  her  husband 
they  applaud,  and  the  palm  is  awarded  to  her. 

The  mimes  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  had  plots. 
Absence  of  plot.  They  were  burlesque  scenes,  abounding  in  coarse 
humor  and  practical  jokes.  A  lover,  perhaps,  would 
be  represented  caught  hiding  in  a  closet ;  he  would  be 
dragged  out,  and  blows  and  kicks  would  bring  the 
scene  to  a  termination. 

Besides  the  brutality  of  the  public,  which  would  be  a 
sufficient  explanation  of  the  popularity  of  this  kind  of 
amusement,  the  presence  of  women  among  the  actors 
contributed  largely  to  its  success.  This  feature  was  a 
unique  exception  to  the  rule  of  the  ancient  theater.  In 
all  the  other  exhibitions  men  only  took  part.  Actresses 

Actresses.  .  . 

have  always  and  everywhere  exercised  a  strange  fasci- 
nation ;  and  the  actresses  in  the  mimes,  being  less 
numerous  than  those  in  our  modern  comedies,  must 
have  been  all  the  more  an  attraction.  Of  course  they 
had  their  adventures.  Cicero  once  pleaded  for  a  young 
man  who  had  eloped  with  one  of  them.  And,  as  is 
usually  the  case,  their  adventures  prepared  the  way  for 
their  theatrical  success,  and  their  theatrical  success  for 
their  adventures. 

The  list  of  characters  to  be  taken  by  the  actors  and 

The  cast  of  * 

characters.  actresses  of  the  mimes  presented  very  much  the  same 
variety  that  we  find  in  connection  with  modern  theat- 
rical companies.  There  was  the  eldest  son,  the  father 
of  noble  rank,  the  rich  man,  the  scoffer,  and  the 
simpleton. 

While   these  new   kinds  of   dramatic   representation 


Amusements.  221 


flourished,  the  ancient  tragedy  declined.  One  reason 
for  this  was  that  it  received  no  encouragement  or 
support  from  the  government.  For  had  it  not,  in  the 
hands  of  Pacuvius  and  of  Attius,  stirred  up  republican  The  decline 

r        r.  of  the  ancient 

sentiment?  Moreover,  the  people  had  lost  their  taste  tragedy. 
for  tragedy.  They  had  no  longer  any  interest  in  the 
sublime,  the  poetical,  or  the  ideal.  From  the  reign  of 
Augustus  tragic  poetry  was  only  a  pretext  for  the  dis- 
play of  stage  scenery.  Horace  has  remarked  upon  this 
decadence.  A  little  later  tragedy  became  nothing  but 
an  exercise  in  declamation.  An  actor  would  select 
from  the  work  of  an  ancient  poet  some  brilliant,  lyric 
monologue,  and  deliver  it,  isolated  from  its  connection, 
just  as  with  us  a  singer  will  give,  at  a  concert,  a  selec-  Deciamation. 
tion  from  an  opera.  So  slight  was  the  interest  in  the 
subject  matter  of  the  drama  that  the  actors  often  de- 
claimed in  Greek  ;  a  few  of  their  audience,  doubtless, 
knew  enough  Greek  to  misunderstand  it,  but  they 
would  loudly  applaud. 

The  classic  comedy  was  as  much  neglected  as  the 
tragedy.  No  new  comedies  were  written,  but  the  plays 
of  Plautus,  of  Terence,  and  of  Afranius  were  given  now 
and  then.  They,  however,  were  only  enjoyed  by 
literary  people,  or  people  of  refinement  with  a  taste  for 
the  archaic.  Whatever  pleasure  the  general  public 
took  in  them  depended,  not  upon  the  poet,  but  upon 
the  acting. 

The  mimes   attained  a   marvelous   popularity  under 

.  .  ..      .  The  popularity 

the  empire  ;  they  even  came  to  constitute  a  distinct  of  the  mimes. 
form  of  spectacle  by  themselves.  The  art  of  the  panto- 
mimist  won  the  admiration  of  its  most  vehement  critics 
and  triumphed  over  the  opposition  of  the  partisans  of 
the  ancient  theater.  Under  Nero,  the  philosopher 
Demetrius  expressed  the  greatest  disapproval  of  panto- 


222 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' 's   Time. 


ist  Paris. 


Schools  of 
pantomimists. 


mimists,  and  declared  them  incapable  of  producing  any 
effect  without  the  accompaniment  of  choirs  and  music. 
The  pantomim-  But  after  having  seen  Paris,  the  celebrated  panto- 
mimist,  he  was  obliged  to  confess  that  he  had  been 
mistaken,  and  he  made  honorable  amends  to  the  artist 
for  his  previous  hostility. 

There  were  regular  schools  of  pantomimists.  Bathyl- 
lus,  the  Alexandrine,  and  the  Cilician  Pylades  were 
each  the  founder  of  a  school.  Even  the  great  poets 
did  not  disdain  writing  ballet  songs  for  them.  Lucan  is 
supposed  to  have  written  fourteen  such  songs. 

Although  not  so  much  raved  over  as  the  charioteers 
of  the  circus  and  the  gladiators  of  the  arena,  the  actors 
of  the  theater  knew  something  of  the  intoxication  of 
fame  and  the  triumphs  of   popularity.     Their   success 
often   brought    them    wealth.     Vespasian    gave   4,000 
sesterces  (about  $170)  to  each  of  the  actors  who  took 
part  in   the  festival  celebrating  the  restoration  of  the 
Theater  of   Marcellus  ;   and  yet  Vespasian   had    not  a 
reputation  for  generosity.      But 
the  Roman  actors  preferred  the 
satisfaction    of    self-love    to    the 
enjoyment  of  riches.     They  de- 
sired success  at  any  price  ;  and 
if  they  could  not  win  it  by  their 
talent,  they  resorted   to    means 
which  are  still  employed.     Nero, 
who  aspired  to  be  an  actor,  had 
skilfully   organized   the   claque. 
According    to     his    plan    there 
would   be   distributed   over   the 
theater    5,000     vigorous     men, 
divided  into  squads,  each  one  of 
GLADIATOR'S  HELMET.  which  had  as  captain  a  Roman 


The  success 
of  actors. 


Amusements.  223 


knight  under  a  salary  of  4,000  sesterces  (about  $170). 
He  had  devised  a  method  by  which  these  hired  ap- 
plauders  might  distinguish  between  the  various  degrees 
of  their  mercenary  enthusiasm.  Moderate  approval  was  , 

-\  Methods  of 

expressed  by  ordinary  hand -clapping  ;  when   a  livelier  applauding. 

enjoyment  seemed  called  for,  a  sharp,  almost  metallic 

sound  was  produced  by  a  peculiar  method  of  striking 

the  flats  of  the  hands  together ;  the  highest  admiration 

was  signified   by  clapping  with  the  hands  formed  into 

hollows,   creating   thus   a   full,   explosive   sound.     The 

actors  imitated  the  imperial  example,  and  according  to 

their  means  made  sure  of  a  cordial  reception.     As  far  as 

possible  they  would  enlist  voluntary  partisans  and  then 

hire  professional  applauders.      Factions  were  sometimes 

the  cause  of  disturbances  and  even  of  violence  in  the 

theaters. 

Romans  is  to-day  a  slang  term  among  the  French  for 
hired  clappers.  Their  profession  sprang  into  existence 
in  the  Eternal  City  and  there  also  it  became  an  art. 

In  the  various  spectacles  which  we  have  mentioned 
there    was   not   much    to   please    the   taste    of   literary 
people.     To  supply  this  lack  public  readings  were  made   publj  readin 
a  regular  form  of  entertainment. 

When  an  optimate,  for  instance,  who  has  indulged 
a  mania  for  writing,  desires  a  public  for  his  works,  he 
dismantles  some  room  in  his  house,  puts  up  a  platform, 
and  arranges  seats  for  an  audience.  Then  all  his 
friends  are  invited  to  listen  to  a  reading  from  his  works. 
His  freedmen,  clients,  and  slaves,  seated  on  the  rear 
benches,  are  responsible  for  keeping  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  audience  at  a  proper  pitch. 

Let  us  illustrate  once  more  how  such  entertainments 
were  arranged.  Rubrenus  Lappa,  a  needy  poet,  de- 
sires to  make  his  verses  known.  Maculonus,  his 


224  Roman  Life  in  Pliny* s   Time. 

patron,  puts  at  his  disposal  a  room  of  his  elegant  man- 
sion. Posters  are  scattered  over  the  city  announcing 
the  place  and  the  hour  of  the  recitation.  When  the 
time  comes,  Rubrenus  Lappa,  who  for  the  occasion 
Lappa.  has  donned  his  best  clothes,  ascends  the  platform, 

unrolls  his  manuscript,  and  begins  to  read  it,  after 
having  swallowed  a  glass  of  warm  water  to  clear  his 
voice.  Rubrenus  is  loudly  applauded.  The  result  will 
be  that  lovers  of  literature  will  go  and  buy  his  book, 
when  it  appears  for  sale  in  the  bookstores  of  the  Vicus 
Tuscus.  If  he  had  been  hissed,  the  poor  man  would 
have  had  to  pawn  his  mantle  and  such  articles  of 
furniture  as  a  needy  poet  might  possess. 

Others  read  their  works  in  public  in  order  to  have  an 
opportunity,  before  publishing,  to  correct  and  modify 
them  in  accordance  with  criticisms  which  may  be 
offered.  Pliny  belongs  to  this  class. 

Every  author   [he  writes]    has    his  particular    reasons  for 

Pliny's  reasons     reciting  his  works  ;  mine,  I  have  often  said,  are,  in  order,  if 

lor  reciting  ' 

his  works.  any  error  should  have  escaped  my  own  observation  (as  no 

doubt  they  do  escape  it  sometimes),  to  have  it  pointed  out  to 
me.  I  cannot  therefore  but  be  surprised  to  find  (what  your 
letter  assures  me)  that  there  are  some  who  blame  me  for 
reciting  my  speeches  ;  unless,  perhaps,  they  are  of  opinion 
that  this  is  the  single  species  of  composition  that  ought  to  be 
held  exempt  from  any  correction.  If  so,  I  would  willingly 
ask  them  why  they  allow  (if  indeed  they  do  allow)  that  his- 
tory may  be  recited,  since  it  is  a  work  which  ought  to  be 
devoted  to  truth,  not  ostentation?  or  why  tragedy,  as  it  is 
composed  for  action  and  the  stage,  not  for  being  read  to  a 
private  audience  ?  or  lyric  poetry,  as  it  is  not  a  reader,  but  a 
chorus  of  voices  and  instruments  that  it  requires  ?  They  will 
reply,  perhaps,  that  in  the  instances. referred  to  custom  has 
made  the  practice  in  question  usual ;  I  should  be  glad  to  know, 
then,  if  they  think  the  person  who  first  introduced  this  prac- 
tice is  to  be  condemned  ?  Besides,  the  rehearsal  of  speeches 
is  no  unprecedented  thing  either  with  us  or  the  Grecians. 


Amusements. 


225 


Still,  perhaps,  they  will  insist  that  it  can  answer  no  purpose  to 
recite  a  speech  which  has  already  been  delivered.  True  ;  if 
one  were  immediately  to  repeat  the  very  same  speech  word 
for  word,  and  to  the  very  same  audience  ;  but  if  you  make 
several  additions  and  alterations,  if  your  audience  is  com- 
posed partly  of  the  same  and  partly  of  different  persons,  and 
the  recital  is  at  some  distance  of  time,  why  is  there  less 
propriety  in  rehearsing  your  speech  than  in  publishing  it? 
"But  it  is  difficult,"  the  objectors  urge,  "to  give  satisfaction 
to  an  audience  by  the  mere  recital  of  a  speech"  ;  that  is  a 
consideration  which  concerns  the  particular  skill  and  pains  of 
the  person  who  rehearses,  but  by  no  means  holds  good 
against  recitation  in  general. 

Pliny  is  sincere  without  doubt  when  he  speaks  thus  ; 

,          .     "  1     i  1        i         •  1         •  •    •  Praise  preferred 

but  it  seems  probable  that  in  general  criticism  was  less  to  criticism. 

desired  than  praise,  and  readers,  no  doubt,  found  those 

listeners  most  agreeable  who  understood  this  truth.     If 

you  wish  to  make  your  society  pleasant  to  an  author, 

do   not  be   afraid   of 

embarrassing  him 

with  your  praise. 

Poetry,  history, 
oratory,  comedy,  and 
tragedy — all  these 
departments  of  liter- 
ature furnished  mat- 
ter for  these  reci- 
tations. Pliny  read 
in  public  his  pane- 
gyric addressed  to 
Trajan,  and  some  of 
his  pleas  ;  Statius 

read  his   "Silvae"    and  extracts  from  his   "Thebai's." 
The  tragedies  attributed  to  Seneca  were  probably  de-  freageeCdj'ess. 
livered   as   recitations,    for   certainly   they   were   never 
written   to   be   acted    upon   the   stage  ;   we   purposely 


SHIELD. 


226  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's    Time. 


omitted  mentioning  them  when  we  were  discussing  the 
condition  of  tragedy  under  the  empire.  With  their 
brilliant  declamations,  their  witty  aphorisms,  and  their 
laborious  and  cold  lyrical  strains,  they  give  us  a  very 
clear  idea  of  what  must  have  been  the  taste  of  those 
who  frequented  the  recitation  halls.  These  listeners, 
surfeited  by  an  over  culture  which  prevented  them 
The  taste  of  from  being  surprised  into  a  natural  admiration  for 

the  listeners.  ,  ' 

simple  beauties,  required  to  be  astonished  at  the  peculi- 
arities of  the  style  and  the  novelty  of  the  paradoxes. 
Subtlety,  affectation,  oddity  were  not  faults  in  their 
eyes  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  merits. 

But  the  time  came  when  both  readers  and  listeners 
were  tired  of  their  amusement  and  the  recitation  halls 
stood  empty.  Pliny  complains  of  the  growing  indiffer- 
ence for  the  public  readings,  which  even  in  his  day  was 
observable. 

This  year    [he  writes]    has  produced  a  plentiful    crop  of 

The  indiffer-        poets  ;  during  the  whole  month  of  April  scarcely  a  day  has 
ence  for  public  7 .   ,  -1-11 

readings.  passed  on  which  we  have  not  been  entertained  with  the  re- 

cital of  some  poem.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  find  that  a  taste 
for  polite  literature  still  exists,  and  that  men  of  genius  do 
come  forward  and  make  themselves  known,  notwithstanding 
the  lazy  attendance  they  get  for  their  pains.  The  greater  part 
of  the  audience  sit  in  the  lounging  places,  gossip  away  their 
time  there,  and  are  perpetually  sending  to  inquire  whether 
the  author  has  made  his  entrance  yet,  whether  he  has  got 
through  the  preface,  or  whether  he  has  almost  finished  the 
piece.  Then  at  length  they  saunter  in  with  an  air  of  the 
greatest  indifference,  nor  do  they  condescend  to  stay  through 
the  recital,  but  go  out  before  it  is  over,  some  slyly  and 
stealthily,  others  again  with  perfect  freedom  and  unconcern. 
And  yet  our  fathers  can  remember  how  Claudius  Caesar,  walk- 
Claudius  ing  one  day  in  the  palace  and  hearing  a  great  shouting,  in- 
quired the  cause  ;  and  being  informed  that  Nonianus  was 
reciting  a  composition  of  his,  went  immediately  to  the  place, 
and  agreeably  surprised  the  author  with  his  presence.  But 


Amusements.  227 


now,  were  one  to  bespeak  the  attendance  of  the  idlest  man 
living,  and  remind  him  of  the  appointment  ever  so  often,  or 
ever  so  long  beforehand,  either  he  would  not  come  at  all,  or,  if 
he  did,  would  grumble  about  having  "lost  a  day"!  for  no 
other  reason  but  because  he  had  not  lost  it.  So  much  the 
more  do  those  authors  deserve  our  encouragement  and 
applause  who  have  resolution  to  persevere  in  their  studies, 
.and  to  read  out  their  compositions  in  spite  of  this  apathy  or 
arrogance. 

This  indifference  was  destined  to  go  on  increasing. 

Decline  in  liter- 

The  literary  activity  of  the  Romans  gradually  declined,    ary  activity, 
until  the  day  when  their  language  and  literature  per- 
ished, and  in  their  place  sprang  up  the  languages  and 
literatures  of  modern  Western  Europe. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

TRAVELING. 

THE  splendor  of  the  Eternal  City,  the  magnificence 
of  its  buildings,  the  gaiety  of  its  festivals,  the  renown  of 
its  professors  and  of  its  artists  attracted  strangers  to  it 
in  crowds.  But  while  the  world  flowed  into  Rome, 
Rome  itself  spread  out  over  the  world. 

In  our  day  traveling  has  become  common  and  very 

The  popularity  popular.  The  safety  of  the  roads,  the  rapidity  of  the 
means  of  transportation,  the  constant  progress  toward 
unity  in  manners  and  customs,  all  this  tempts  us  to  leave 
home,  and  again  enables  us  to  feel  at  home  wherever  we 
go- 

The  condition  of  things  was  the  same  for  the  Romans 
about  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era.  To  the 
period  of  war  had  succeeded  the  period  of  organization. 
After  having  conquered  the  world,  Rome  "pacified"  it. 

The  magnifi-  All  parts  of  the  empire  were  united  by  a  magnificent 

ofroaTs* ™        system  of  roads. 

You  have  [said  the  rhetorician  Aristides]  measured  the 
earth  from  end  to  end,  you  have  spanned  the  rivers  with 
bridges,  penetrated  the  mountains  with  carriage  roads,  peopled 
the  deserts,  and  established  everywhere  order  and  discipline. 
There  is  no  need  now  for  a  descriptive  catalogue  of  the  earth 
with  an  account  of  the  customs  and  laws  of  all  the  nations  ; 
for  you  have  become  guides  for  the  whole  world  ;  you  have 
opened  all  its  doors  and  given  to  each  man  the  opportunity  to 
see  everything  with  his  own  eyes. 

Hyperbole  is  a  figure  dear  to  the  rhetorician  Aristi- 
des ;  but  there  is  no  exaggeration  in  the  above  passage. 

228 


Traveling.  229 

The  network  of  Roman  ways  covered  in  truth  the 
entire  empire.  Everywhere  have  been  found  traces  of 
these  marvelous  constructions.  Furthermore,  in  order 
to  facilitate  traveling,  road-books  were  published  con-  Guide-books, 
taining  maps  and  information  as  to  stations,  distances, 
and  places  where  one  could  stay  over  night.  On  the 
site  of  Vicarello  in  Etruria  were  found,  among  other 
objects,  three  silver  traveling-cups,  shaped  like  mile- 
stones, and  having  engraved  upon  them  a  list  of 
stations  and  distances  from  Gades  to  Rome. 

The  science   of    geography   was   dawning.     Strabo,    The beginning 
whose  life   extended  into   the  reign  of   Tiberius,   had  °fgeography. 
written  his  great  geographical  work,  which  is  a  vast  and 
useful  repertory.     The  expression  of  Aristides  did  not 
exceed   the   truth  ;   the    Romans   had   in   fact   become 
guides  for  the  entire  world. 

The  Romans  were  not  satisfied  with  comfort,  they 
desired  rapidity  in  travel.  State  post-houses,  estab-  Rapidity 
lished  upon  the  model  of  the  posts  of  the  ancient  of  travel. 
Persian  monarchy,  furnished  to  functionaries  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  to  those  who  bore  authorizations  from  the 
emperor,  horses  and  carriages  which  made  nearly  five 
miles  an  hour.  Private  individuals  relied  for  their 
accommodations  upon  private  enterprise.  Convey- 
ances were  stationed  at  the  gates  of  towns  and  at  inns. 
Rich  companies  kept,  for  the  use  of  the  public,  beasts, 
vehicles,  and  postilions.  You  could  hire  a  four-wheeled  Conveyances. 
carriage,  or,  if  you  were  not  very  particular  about  your 
comfort,  a  two-wheeled  cabriolet.  These  hired  equi- 
pages were,  as  might  be  expected,  slower  than  the  post, 
for  the  horses  were  not  so  good  and  the  postilions,  not 
being  accountable  to  the  state,  delayed  without  scruple 
at  the  relay  stations.  It  was,  however,  in  a  hired 
carriage  that  Caesar  traveled  the  distance  of  eight 


230 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


Traveling 
by  sea. 


hundred  miles,  which  separates  Rome  from  the  Rhone 
—  one  hundred  miles  a  day.     This  rapidity  astonished 

his  contemporaries,  and 
moderns  who  have  had 
experience  with  diligences 
will  share  their  surprise. 
Although  traveling  by 
sea  was  far  less  common 
among  the  ancients  than 
among  us,  voyages  were 
made  with  a  considerable 
degree  of  speed.  Spring 
was  the  time  for  setting 
sail.  At  this  season  boats 
which  had  been  upon  the 
shore  all  winter  were 
launched  by  the  aid  of 
machines. 

According  to  Pliny  the 
Elder,  the  prefect  Galerus, 
setting  out  from  the  strait 
of  Sicily,  reached  Alexan- 
dria after  a  seven  days' 
sail.  Balbillus  made  the 
same  trip  in  six  days.  In 
brief,  from  the  items  of 
information  that  have 
been  left  to  us  upon  this 
subject,  we  are  able  to 
infer  that  with  a  favorable 
wind  a  ship  could  make 

z  38  miles  a  day. 


FORTUNE.    Museum  of  Naples. 


Dangers  of 
sea  trips. 


We  must  admit  that  sea  trips  were  not  always  free 
from  danger.     There  were  no  more  pirates,  it  is  true, 


Traveling.  231 

to  interfere  with  them.  The  time  was  past  when  the 
corsairs  defied  the  power  of  Rome,  when  they  carried 
off  the  treasure  from  the  Temple  of  Lacinian  Juno  at 
Crotona,  and  foundered  in  the  very  harbor  of  Ostia  a 
fleet  commanded  by  a  consul.  Pompey  had  rid  the  sea 
of  these  bold  bandits.  Since  his  day  one  could  sail 
upon  the  Mediterranean,  even  at  night,  without  fear  of  a 
dangerous  encounter.  But  the  pillagers  of  wrecked  Wreckers, 
vessels  were  not  so  easily  disposed  of.  In  spite  of 
severe  laws,  they  multiplied  along  the  coasts  and  made 
a  living  out  of  their  horrible  business.  Not  content 
with  profiting  from  ships  already  lost,  these  rogues 
often  caused  wrecks.  By  false  signals  they  lured 
vessels  upon  the  rocks  and  robbed  their  victims,  while 
pretending  to  be  eager  in  rescuing  them. 

Nor  was  land-traveling  without  its  dangers.      Italy 

.  Highway 

from  this  time  is  the  classic  land  of  highway  robbery,  robbery. 
which  had  begun  to  flourish  immediately  after  the  civil 
wars.  Bands  which  were  recruited  from  deserting 
soldiers,  fugitive  slaves,  and  refractory  gladiators  held 
entire  provinces  in  terror.  Augustus  and  Tiberius  took 
energetic  measures  to  secure  safety  ;  troops  were  sent 
to  destroy  the  brigands.  But  it  does  not  appear  that 
such  efforts  were  ever  crowned  with  success.  In  the 
time  of  Septimius  Severus,  Felix  Bulla,  a  famous  robber, 
at  the  head  of  a  band  of  six  hundred  men,  ravaged  all 
Italy  ;  he  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  a  romantic 
character  ;  they  talked  everywhere  of  his  daring  deeds  of  bandits, 
and  his  generosity  upon  occasion.  It  is  a  singular  fact, 
to  which  many  similar  examples  may  be  found  in 
modern  times,  that  people  took  his  part  against  the 
police.  Was  not  Fra  Diavolo  dearer  to  the  Italian 
peasants  than  the  militia?  Finally,  to  establish  his 
legendary  character,  Bulla  perished  a  victim  of  a 


232  Roman  Life  in  Pliny" s   Time. 

woman's  treason.  Betrayed  by  his  mistress,  he  ended 
his  life  in  the  arena.  Other  bandits,  more  obscure, 
could  never  be  dislodged  from  their  retreats  in  the 
Pontine  marshes,  in  Sardinia,  and  in  the  Gallinarian 
forest  near  Cumae.  These  were  the  general  head- 
quarters of  the  bandits,  as  Calabria  was  at  the  com- 
mencement of  our  century. 

The   vicinity  of   the   capital   offered   naturally  more 

Vicinity  of  the  .  r>   -11    •  -j          j  i      ^    • 

capital  unsafe     security.     Still  it  was  considered  somewhat  imprudent 

at  night.  ....  .     ,  111 

to  venture  at  night,  if  one  carried  money  or  valuable 
objects,  upon  the  highways  even  in  the  suburbs  of 
Rome.  Juvenal,  in  one  of  his  satires,  says  : 

The  traveler  freighted  with  a  little  wealth, 
Sets  forth  at  night,  and  wins  his  way  by  stealth  ; 
Even  then,  he  fears  the  bludgeon  and  the  blade, 
And  starts  and  trembles  at  a  rush's  shade. 

We  must  not,  then,  accept  without  reserve  the  enthu- 
siastic words  of  the  rhetorician  Aristides  : 

To-day  is  not  each  one  able  to  go  wherever  he  pleases  ? 
Are  not  all  the  harbors  full  of  movement  ?  Do  not  the  moun- 
tains afford  to  travelers  the  same  security  that  towns  do  to 
their  inhabitants?  Are  not  all  the  country  regions  full  of 
charm  ?  Is  not  fear  banished  everywhere  ? 

But  we  should  guard  against  forming  an  exaggerated 
impression  of  the  fear  felt  for  the  bandits.  When 
travelers  set  out,  the  possibility  of  being  robbed  on  their 
way  was  scarcely  more  in  their  minds  than  in  ours  the 
possibility  of  a  railroad  accident  when  we  take  the 
steam-cars. 

Nothing,  however,  would  have  been  able  to  check 
this  impulse  which  had  taken  possession  of  the  Roman 
population  to  go  outside  of  Italy  and  wander  over  the 
world.  Cosmopolitism  had  become  almost  a  favorite 

Cosmopolitism.       ,  .  ,  ...  ,    ..      .     ,        .  ,  , 

doctrine  :  the  minds  or  men  were  full  of  the  idea  that 


Traveling. 


233 


Rome  had  established  the  unity  of  the  world.      Poets 
enthusiastically  sang  this  in  their  verses.     Lucan  praises   Lucan. 
the  man   "who  does  not  believe  that  he  is  born  for 
himself  but  for  the  human  race  and  who  is  inspired  by 
the  sacred  love  of  the  world." 

Another  poet,  Prudentius,  exclaims  :  Prudentius. 

If  Rome  has  bound  us,  it  is  with  the  cord  which  makes  us 
brothers. 

And  Claudianus  says  :  ciaudianus. 

Under  her  pacific  government  we  should  all  find  everywhere 
our  country,  we  should  be  willing  to  move  our  homes  from 
place  to  place,  we  should  be  able  to  make  a  pleasure  trip  to 
Thule  and  to  penetrate  into  retreats  formerly  bristling  with 
terrors,  to  drink  at  our  pleasure  the  waters  of  the  Rhone  or 
those  of  the  Orontes  ;  in  short,  we  should  all  form  a  single 
nation. 

We  meet  with  this  idea  on  every  page  of  Seneca's 
treatises.  The  nations  are  our  brothers ;  let  the  boun- 
daries be  effaced,  let  the  barriers  be  removed. 

How  ridiculous  is  man  with  his  frontiers  !  The  Dacian 
must  not  cross  the  Ister,  the  Strymon  serves  as  a  boundary 
for  Thrace,  the  Euphrates  is  a  barrier  against  the  Parthians, 
the  Danube  separates  Sarmatia  from  the  Roman  Empire,  the 
Germans  must  not  cross  the  Rhine,  the  Pyrenees  lift  their 
summits  between  Spain  and  the  Gauls,  vast  deserts  extend 
between  Egypt  and  Ethiopia.  If  ants  should  be  endowed 
with  the  intelligence  of  man,  would  not  they  also  divide  up  a  Boundanes 
garden  plot  into  a  hundred  provinces  ?  We  must  abandon 
these  petty  divisions  ;  we  must  enlarge  our  horizon  ;  we  must 
extend  our  affections  to  the  entire  world.  Man  should  regard 
the  earth  as  the  common  habitation  of  the  human  race.  All 
that  you  see  constitutes  a  unit  ;  we  are  the  members  of  a 
great  body.  ...  I  was  not  born  for  a  corner  of  the  earth  ; 
but  my  country  is  the  world,  and  Rome  is  our  common  father- 
land. 


between  nations 
to  be  effaced. 


These   are    not   the    hyperboles   of   a   poet    or   the 


234 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s  Time. 


The  Digest. 


Universal 
civilization.' 


Inducements 
to  travel. 


humanitarian  reveries  of  a  philosopher ;  the  words 
which  we  have  just  quoted  express  so  well  the  general 
sentiment  that  we  find  an  echo  of  them  in  the  body  of 
Roman  law.  "Rome,"  we  read  in  the  Digest,  "is 
the  universal  country." 

Let  us  add  that  material  prosperity  reigns  every- 
where, that  the  earth  is,  as  it  were,  adorned  and 
embellished.  Even  the  enemies  of  this  pagan  civiliza- 
tion are  compelled  to  bear  witness  to  its  benefits. 

Certainly  [wrote  Tertullian]  the  world  becomes  each  day 
more  beautiful  and  more  magnificent.  No  corner  has  re- 
mained inaccessible  ;  every  spot  is  known  and  frequented,  and 
is  the  scene  or  the  object  of  business  transactions.  Explore 
the  deserts  lately  famous,  verdure  covers  them.  The  tilled 
field  has  conquered  the  forest ;  wild  beasts  retreat  before  the 
flocks  of  domestic  animals.  The  sands  are  cultivated,  rock  is 
broken  up,  swamps  are  transformed  into  dry  land.  There  are 
more  towns  now  than  there  were  houses  formerly.  Who 
now  fears  an  island  ?  Who  shudders  at  a  shoal  ?  You  are 
sure  to  find  everywhere  a  dwelling,  everywhere  a  nation,  a 
state,  everywhere  life.  .  .  . 

How  resist  the  desire  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  so  many 
wonders?  How  deny  one's  self  the  pleasure  and  the 
pride  of  taking  a  tour  through  this  world  which  Rome 
has  made  after  her  own  image?  How  could  a  Roman 
bear  to  remain  shut  up  in  his  small  native  locality 
instead  of  enjoying  that  universal  country  which  the 
genius  of  his  people  had  made  his  own?  Traveling 
during  the  two  first  centuries  of  the  empire  and  sub- 
sequently was  therefore  as  common  as  in  our  time. 
If  one  was  compelled  to  change  his  place  of  abode  he 
did  so  without  reluctance.  Many  people  also  traveled 
merely  for  their  own  pleasure. 

To-day  a  functionary  obliged  to  take  up  his  resi- 
dence in  a  new  place  always  grumbles,  even  though 


Traveling. 


235 


the  change  is  accompanied  with  an  advance  in  his 
salary.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  officers  of 
state  in  the  time  of  the  Roman  Empire  were  much 
incommoded  by  the  necessity  of  moving.  And,  more- 
over, we  know  that  these  functionaries  were  somewhat 
nomadic. 

Men  in  high  stations  [says  Epictetus],  senators  for  instance, 
cannot  root  themselves  into  the  ground  like  plants,  but  are   Jj16  nomadic 

life  of  Roman 

obliged  to  travel  in  order  either  to  issue  or  to  execute  com-   functionaries, 
mands,     and    to    fulfil    official    missions    concerning  military 
service  or  the  administration  of  justice. 

Often  they  had  to  make  considerable  journeys  ;  they 
were  sent  from  the  swamps  of  Caledonia  to  the  foot  of 


BRIDGE  OVER  THE  ANIO,  A  FEW  MILES  FROM  TIBUR. 

the  Atlas  ;  from  the  towns  of  Syria  to  the  fortified 
camps  of  the  German  provinces.  We  know  of  no  exam- 
ple of  a  functionary's  refusing  to  set  out.  Not  a  single 
ancient  author  has  told  us  that  the  Roman  officials 
found  these  journeys  too  frequent  or  too  wearisome. 


236 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


Wandering 
life  of  the 
merchants. 


Travel  for 
health. 


Pilgrimages. 


Travel  for 
observation. 


The  merchants  also  led  a  wandering  life.  We  have 
shown  elsewhere  that  maritime  commerce  was  well 
developed  at  Rome.  In  order  to  succeed  in  it,  a  never- 
wearied  activity  was  required  and  an  audacity  which 
nothing  could  disconcert.  Probably  our  modern  busi- 
ness men  do  not  possess  these  qualities  in  a  higher 
degree  than  did  these  ancient  merchants.  We  learn 
from  an  inscription  that  Flavius  Zeuxis  of  Hierapolis 
boasts  of  having  crossed  to  Italy  seventy-two  times. 
And  did  not  many  a  merchant  push  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  Roman  Empire  which  pretended  to  em- 
brace the  world  ?  Roman  merchants  were  the  first  to 
penetrate  into  India,  .which  was  considered  in  the  time 
of  Horace  to  be  the  end  of  the  world. 

Like  the  functionaries  and  like  the  merchants,  in- 
valids obeyed  necessity  by  going  abroad.  Some  went 
to  Egypt  to  seek  health,  others  to  Anticyra,  celebrated 
for  the  perfection  of  its  hellebore.  Still  others  jour- 
neyed toward  the  famous  sanctuaries  of  ^sculapius,  of 
Isis,  or  of  Serapis. 

There  they  met  religious  devotees.  Pilgrimages  are 
not  an  invention  of  Christianity.  Ancient  piety  de- 
lighted in  them.  Crowds  from  all  parts  of  the  known 
world  flocked  to  Eleusis  at  the  celebration  there  of  the 
mysteries  ;  again,  in  the  time  of  Aulus  Gellius,  the 
Pythian  games  attracted  great  multitudes  ;  and  there 
were  always  many  superstitious  people  who,  like  Apu- 
leius,  traveled  from  temple  to  temple,  having  them- 
selves initiated  into  all  sorts  of  religious  ceremonies 
' '  for  love  of  the  truth  and  for  duty  toward  the  gods. ' ' 

Students  and  professors,  pupils  and  learned  men,  also 
traveled  much.  For  from  this  time  people  seem  to 
have  been  convinced  that  whoever  has  seen  many 
things  retains  in  mind  many  things. 


Traveling.  237 

Diodorus,  Strabo,  Pausanias,  Dioscorides,  and  Galien 
prepared  for  their  great  literary  works  by  traveling. 
When  Apuleius  had  finished  his  studies  at  Carthage, 
the  death  of  his  father  having  made  him  the  possessor 
of  a  fortune  of  about  $40,000,  he  began  to  travel 
through  Greece,  Italy,  and  the  East,  by  way  of  com- 
pleting his  education. 

But  travelers  were  not  always  influenced  by  motives   „ 

•         .  .  Traveling 

of  curiosity  alone.  As  there  are  in  our  time  ambulant  teachers, 
artists,  there  were  under  the  Roman  Empire  rheto- 
ricians and  philosophers  who  went  from  town  to  town  to 
give  instruction  in  dialectics  and  in  rhetoric  for  the 
money  that  they  might  make.  They  considered  that 
people  always  like  whatever  is  new  ;  and  before  their 
success  in  one  place  began  to  wane  as  the  novelty  of 
their  presence  there  wore  off,  they  moved  on  to  the 
next  place. 

Eunapius  and  Philostratus,  in  their  biographies  of  the 
sophists  and  the  philosophers,  have  left  us  curious  pic- 
tures of  the  strange  lives  of  these  itinerant  teachers. 

Charlatans  of  eloquence,   these  rhetoricians   had  re- 

.  ,  c    Their  singular 

course  to  singular  means  in  order  to  make  sure  or  methods, 
success.  When  one  of  them  arrived  in  a  town,  slaves 
scoured  the  streets  to  collect  an  audience,  proclaiming 
that  marvelous  things  were  soon  to  be  uttered  by  their 
master.  There  was  sure  to  be  some  wealthy  amateur  of 
letters  who  was  willing  to  lend  a  hall  furnished  with 
benches.  There  at  the  appointed  hour  the  rhetorician 
appeared  in  full  dress,  followed  by  a  long  retinue  of 
supposed  admirers.  This  train  was  indispensable  to 
him.  Good-natured  idlers  there  were  in  abundance, 
who  thought  they  would  acquire  an  air  of  culture  by 
being  associated  with  a  literary  man  and  were  very 
willing  to  form  this  escort.  Sometimes,  however,  it 


238 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny 's   Time. 


A  sophist  at 
Rhodes. 


A  successful 
lecturer. 


Traveling 
students. 


was  composed  in  a  most  unexpected  manner.  A 
sophist,  for  instance,  landing  at  Rhodes,  enlisted  the 
oarsmen  and  sailors  whom  he  found  at  the  port,  bought 
them  costumes,  and  after  having  arrayed  them  as 
lovers  of  noble  eloquence  should  be  arrayed,  made  a 
magnificent  entree  into  the  assembly  at  the  head  of 
this  naval  army. 

After  having  taken  his  place  on  the  platform,  the 
orator  would  pay  a  studied  compliment  to  his  audience, 
pronounce  a  panegyric  upon  the  town,  and  then  pro- 
ceed to  treat  his  chosen  subject  with  a  learnedly  affected 
utterance,  assuming  regulation  attitudes  like  the  poses 
of  a  dancer.  If  his  toga  was  elegant,  if  the  gems  upon 
his  fingers  were  brilliant,  if  his  voice  was  pleasant,  his 
success  was  won  ;  every  one  thought  he  had  handled 
his  subject  well  ;  whether  he  pronounced  a  eulogy  upon 
flies,  smoke,  or  baldness  mattered  little.  The  audience, 
transported,  arose,  shouting  "crowns!  crowns!"  and 
rich  presents  proved  afterward  to  the  orator  that  the 
enthusiasm  was  not  sterile. 

Disciples  desirous  of  learning  the  secrets  of  this  fine 
art  which  was  rewarded  with  such  fame  and  financial 
profit  followed  the  caravans  of  these  rhetoricians. 
Imagine  the  animation  and  the  gaiety  of  these  youths 
as  they  traveled  along  the  highways  !  What  discus- 
sions !  What  bursts  of  laughter  !  In  these  bands  no 
doubt  there  was  many  a  Gil  Bias  who  could  enliven  an 
adventure  or  create  one  at  need.  And  then  what 
joyous  friendships  formed  in  haste  (for  brief  was  the 
sojourn  in  each  place),  when  they  reached  one  of  those 
literary  centers  where  studiously  inclined  young  men 
were  wont  to  gather — Milan  in  Italy,  Autun  in  Gaul, 
Appollonia  in  Epirus,  Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  Carthage, 
Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  Athens. 


Traveling. 


239 


In   his    "Sentimental  Journey,"    among  the  various 
kinds  of   travelers  which    he    mentions   Sterne    distin-   The  idle 

travelers. 

guishes  the  idle  travelers  ;  these  were,  in  antiquity,  the 
most  numerous  kind.     People  who  left  their  country 


VESUVIUS  IN  ERUPTION. 

with  no  other  end  than  to  have  a  change,  who  traveled 
only  to  seek  pleasure,  or  rather  to  escape  from  ennui, 
were  not  rarer  then  than  now. 

Nothing  in  fact  was  more  common,  in  this  refined 
society  of  which  we  have  tried  to  give  some  idea,  than 
for  a  man  to  be  oppressed  by  a  feeling  of  sadness  and 
gloom  without  his  being  able  to  account  for  it.  That 
languor  and  discontent  for  which  the  English  have 
found  the  name  spleen  was  very  prevalent  at  Rome. 
How  many  Romans,  exclaiming  with  Lucretius  "always 
the  same  thing!"  traveled  over  the  world  in  quest  of 
new  pleasures,  which,  while  they  sought  them  con- 
tinually, they  never  found  !  How  many,  like  those 


prevaient 


240  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


sick  people  who  imagine  that  they  obtain  some  relief 
by  tossing  from  side  to  side,  exerted  themselves  to 
attain  a  repose  which  forever  fled  from  them  !  As 
Lucretius  says  : 

The  man  who  is  sick  of  home  often  issues  forth  from  his 

A  restless  man     iarge  mansion,  and  as  suddenly  comes  back  to  it,  finding  as  he 

Lucretius. '         does  that  he  is  no  better  off  abroad.     He  races  to  his  country 

house,  driving  his  jennets  in  headlong  haste,  as  if  hurrying  to 

bring  help  to  a  house  on  fire  ;  he  yawns  the  moment  he  has 

reached  the  door  of  his  house,  or  sinks  heavily  into  sleep  and 

seeks  forgetfulness,  or  even  in  haste  goes  back  again  to  town. 

In  this  way  each  man  flies  from  himself. 

But  such  efforts  were  never  crowned  by  success. 
Philosophers  proclaim  aloud  the  uselessness  of  setting 
off  on  a  tour,  for 

Ennui,  a  black  knight,  gallops  fast  at  your  side. 

remedy  for  But  no  one  listened  to  the  philosophers  ;  travel,  with 
its  excitement  and  noise,  seemed  the  best  remedy  for 
this  wretched  melancholy,  and  so  when  a  man  became 
low-spirited  he  would  order  his  slaves  to  pack  up  the 
luggage  quickly. 

In  summer,  at  the  approach  of  autumn,  when  Rome 
was  malarial,  the  roads  leading  out  of  the  city  were  full 
of  pedestrians,  horsemen,  and  carriages.  Some  directed 
their  way  toward  the  coast  of  Latium,  having  in  view 

Formise.  Antium,  Formiae,   Ostia,   or  Astura.      Formise,  accord- 

ing to  Martial,  in  the  following  epigram,  was  a  delight- 
ful resort : 

At  Formiae  the  surface  of  the  ocean  is  but  gently  crisped  by 
the  breeze,  and,  though  tranquil,  is  ever  in  motion,  and  bears 
along  the  painted  skiff  under  the  influence  of  a  gale  as  gentle 
as  that  wafted  by  a  maiden's  fan  when  she  is  distressed  by 
heat.  Nor  has  the  fishing-line  to  seek  its  victim  far  out  at  sea ; 
but  the  fish  may  be  seen  beneath  the  pellucid  waters,  seizing 
the  line  as  it  drops  from  the  chamber  or  the  couch.  Were 


Traveling.  241 

ever  to  send  a  storm,  the  table,  still  sure  of  its  pro- 
vision, might  laugh  at  his  railings  ;  for  the  native  fish-pool 
protects  the  turbot  and  the  pike ;  delicate  lampreys  swim  up 
to  their  master ;  delicious  mullet  obey  the  call  of  the  keeper, 
and  the  old  carp  come  forth  at  the  sound  of  his  voice. 

The  reputation  of  Ostia  was  as  great.  But  the  most 
luxurious  watering-place  of  the  ancient  world  was 
Baise,  on  the  shore  of  the  beautiful  Gulf  of  Naples,  with  Baiae. 
the  green  mountains  for  a  background.  Palaces  built 
by  the  different  emperors  and  sumptuous  villas  formed, 
as  it  were,  another  city  by  the  side  of  the  real  city 
which  was  itself  richly  provided  with  magnificent  estab- 
lishments for  the  treatment  of  invalids  or  the  amuse- 
ment of  those  who  enjoyed  good  health.  For  among 
all  the  watering-places,  Baiae  was  eminently  the  city  of 
pleasure.  Here  a  perpetual  festival  reigns,  whose  gaiety 
is  enhanced  by  the  charm  of  the  sea  and  the  sky.  The 
gulf  is  covered  with  barks  full  of  musicians  who  make 
the  air  sweet  with  melody  ;  gay  companions  drink 
merrily  together  upon  the  shore  and  talk  of  love  ; 
beautiful  ladies  and  famous  courtesans  are  here,  trying 
to  find  again  the  lover  of  yesterday  or  seeking  the 
lover  of  to-morrow.  You  come  here,  as  Ovid  says,  to 
be  cured,  and  you  go  away  with  a  wound  in  your 
heart.  Can  you  be  surprised  after  this  that  Seneca 
advises  Lucilius  to  avoid  this  resort,  which  he  calls  a 
hot-bed  of  vice? 

There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun.     The  Romans, 
who  like  us  had  their  summer  watering-places,  had  also 

...  „.  ...  ,      .  .  ,       ,    Winter  resorts. 

their  winter  resorts.  The  physicians  of  this  time  had 
already  conceived  the  idea  of  getting  rid  of  their 
troublesome  patients  by  advising  them  to  seek  a  milder 
climate.  Thus  Antonius  Musa  directed  Horace  to  pass 
the  winter  at  Velia  or  at  Salernum.  Perhaps  these  two 


242  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s  Time. 

towns  had  not  yet  won  the  reputation  which  they  after- 
ward enjoyed  ;  for  we  find  Horace  inquiring  whether 
the  social  life  there  is  pleasant  and  gay,  and  whether 
you  can  find  there  the  good  wine  which,  he  says,  "  can 
make  the  blood  flow  in  my  veins  and  awaken  rich  hope 
in  my  heart,  loosen  my  tongue,  and  restore  to  me  my 
youth." 

But  Tarentum  from  the  time  of  Augustus  had  a  wide 

Tarentum. 

reputation  and  invited  strangers  to  take  up  their  winter 
quarters  in  its  delightful  vicinity.  Horace  wished  to 
live  and  die  there. 

I  will  seek  [he  says]  the  river  Galaesus,  delightful  for  sheep 
covered  with  skins,  and  the  countries  reigned  over  by  Lacedae- 
monian Phalantus.  That  corner  of  the  world  smiles  in  my 
eye  beyond  all  others  ;  where  the  honey  yields  not  to  the 
Hymettian,  and  the  olive  rivals  the  verdant  Venafrian  ;  where 
the  temperature  of  the  air  produces  a  long  spring  and  mild 
winters,  and  Aulon,  friendly  to  the  fruitful  vine,  envies  not  the 
Falernian  grapes.  That  place  and  those  blest  heights  solicit 
you  and  me  ;  there  you  shall  bedew  the  glowing  ashes  of 
your  poet  friend  with  a  tear  due  to  his  memory. 

The  mountains  do  not  appear  to  have  been  so  pop- 
ular as  they  are  in  our  day.  People  enjoyed,  however, 
the  resorts  upon  the  Alban  and  Sabine  Mountains, 
especially  Tibur,  Praeneste,  the  Algidus,  Aricia,  Tuscu- 
lum,  and  Alba. 

The  middle  classes  limited  their  trips  to  Italy,  or  at 
most  they  went  as  far  as  Sicily,  that  they  might  be 
able  to  relate  upon  their  return  that  they  had  seen 
^tna  sung  by  the  poets,  the  Valley  of  Enna,  and  its 
prairie  of  violets,  the  Gulf  of  Charybdis  and  the  foun- 
tain Arethusa. 

But  the  curiosity  of  the  patricians  was  not  so  easily 
satisfied.  They  wished  to  go.  outside  of  their  own 
country  and  even  of  their  own  age  ;  they  sought  other 


Traveling.  243 

skies  than  the  sky  of  Italy  and  countries  where  the  past 
was  more  vivid  than  the  present.  Thus  it  happened 
that  during  the  first  centuries  of  the  empire  there  was 
no  Roman  somewhat  distinguished  who  had  not  taken 
his  trip  into  Greece. 

This  country  always  exercised,  in  fact,  over  those  Greece, 
who  had  conquered  it,  a  great  fascination.  However 
much  the  Greeks  who  came  to  Rome  were  inclined  to 
disparage  their  own  nationality,  Greece  inspired  in  the 
Romans  a  sentiment  of  admiration  and  respect  which 
Pliny  has  very  well  expressed  in  the  following  letter  to 
his  friend  Maximus,  governor  of  Achaia  : 

My  friendship  for  you  constrains  me,  I  will  not  say  to  give 
you  directions  (for  you  do  not  require  them),  but  to  remind  ic/Maxim"" 
you  of  what  you  already  know,  so  that  you  may  put  it  in  prac- 
tice, and  even  know  it  more  thoroughly.  Consider  that  you 
are  sent  to  the  province  of  Achaia,  that  true  and  genuine 
Greece,  whence  civilization,  literature,  even  agriculture,  are 
believed  to  have  taken  their  origin — sent  to  regulate  the  con- 
dition of  free  cities,  whose  inhabitants  are  men  in  the  best  sense 
of  the  word — free  men  of  the  noblest  kind,  inasmuch  as  they 
have  maintained  the  freedom  which  nature  gives  as  a  right,  by 
their  virtues,  by  their  good  actions,  and  by  the  securities  of 
alliance  and  solemn  obligation.  Revere  the  gods  who  founded 
their  state  ;  revere  the  glory  of  their  ancient  days,  even  that 
old  age  itself,  which,  as  in  men  it  claims  respect,  is  in  cities 

altogether  sacred.     Honor    their    old    traditions,   their  great  Greece  the  land 
,     .     ,  ,          _  ,  .      -  ....        of  literature  and 

deeds,  even  their  legends.     Grant  to  every  one  his  full  dig-   of  freedom. 

nity,  freedom — yes,  and  the  indulgence  of  his  vanity.  Keep 
ever  before  you  the  fact  that  it  was  this  land  which  gave 
us  our  own  laws — gave  them  to  us,  not  as  a  conquered  peo- 
ple, but  at  our  own  request.  It  is  Athens,  remember,  to 
which  you  go — it  is  Lacedaimon  you  will  have  to  govern  ; 
and  to  take  from  such  states  the  shadow  and  the  surviving 
name  of  liberty  would  be  a  cruel  and  barbarous  act !  You 
see  that  physicians  treat  the  free  with  more  tenderness  than 
slaves,  though  their  disorder  may  be  the  same.  Remem- 
ber what  each  of  these  states  has  been,  but  so  remember 


244  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's    Time. 

as  not  to  despise  them  for  being  no  longer  what  they  were. 

Immediately   after   the    conquest  of  Greece,    in    the 

vEmiiius  year  j6q  B.  C,  ^milius  Paulus  went  to  visit  the  cities 

Paulus.  * 

and  most  celebrated  places  of  that  country,  and  at 
Olympia  he  lingered  before  the  Jupiter  of  Phidias, 
overcome  by  an  emotion  so  strong  that  it  seemed  as  if 
he  was  in  the  presence  of  the  god  himself.  From  this 
day  trips  to  Greece  became  fashionable,  and  the  charm 
of  the  land  for  tourists  was  not  diminished  by  the  fact 

Ruins  of  Greece,  that  it  was  hastening  to  ruin,  that  its  cities  were  be- 
coming deserted  and  its  country  regions  depopulated. 
Dion  Chrysostom  describes  one  of  these  ancient  cities, 
Chalcis  perhaps,  where  the  sheep  graze  in  front  of  the 
city  hall,  where  the  site  of  the  gymnasium  is  occupied 
by  a  corn-field,  among  whose  waving  stalks  the  heads 
of  ancient  marble  statues  may  be  seen.  There  is  a 
fascination  about  this  ruin.  Out  of  these  solitudes  the 
image  of  the  past  is  easily  called  forth. 

Restoration  But  the   desolation   was   not  universal.     Under   the 

government  of  the  Antonines  Athens  was  restored  ; 
Herod  Atticus  adorned  it  with  magnificent  buildings, 
and  Hadrian  tried  to  make  it  once  more  the  city  of 
culture. 

Corjnth-  .  While  Athens  served  as  a  studious  retreat,  Corinth, 

more  animated  and  more  luxurious,  attracted  pleasure- 
seekers,  and  merited  its  name,  ' '  the  City  of  Aphro- 
dite." So  Greece  remained  until  the  last  days  of  the 
empire  a  haunt  for  tourists,  and  a  poet  of  the  Latin 
Anthology  proclaims  that  its  very  ashes  are  sacred. 
Travelers  who  had  plenty  of  money  and  leisure  did 

The  isles.  not  omit  visiting  the  isles.      Bullatius,  Horace's  friend, 

took  a  trip  to  see  Chios,  Lesbos,  and  Samos,  those 
lands  of  sunny  skies  scattered  upon  the  waters  of  the 
vEgean  Sea.  From  the  Archipelago  a  few  strokes  of 


Traveling,  245 

the  oar  took  him  to  the  Ionian  coast,  where  he  visited 
Smyrna.  But  in  spite  of  their  splendors,  these  rich 
and  beautiful  countries  could  not  divert  the  mind  of 
Bullatius  ;  morose  and  blast  traveler  that  he  was,  he 
did  not  care  to  go  as  far  as  Ilium. 

And  yet  this  wretched  village,  inhabited  then  by 
^olian  Greeks,  was  frequently  visited  by  Roman  tour-  J 
ists.  It  did  not  occur  to  them  to  wonder  whether  it 
was  really  the  ancient  Troy,  the  sacred  city  of  Priam. 
The  descendants  of  y£neas  recognized  it  without  dis- 
cussion as  the  cradle  of  their  race,  and  the  least  super- 
stitious of  them  contemplated  with  emotion  the  temple 
where  the  image  of  Pallas  was  formerly  kept,  a  relic 
since  transported  to  Rome,  if  we  may  believe  Ovid. 
Full  of  the  legends  of  Homer,  upon  which  they  had  fed 
their  youth,  imbued  with  that  patriotic  pride  which  had 
remained  a  tradition  of  the  race,  after  having  been  a 
part  of  its  religion  and  one  of  its  virtues,  the  Romans 
allowed  themselves  to  be  guided  by  the  people  of 
Ilium,  and  did  not  put  themselves  on  guard  against  the 
fabrications  of  these  Greek  tricksters  and  liers,  who 
pointed  out  to  them  the  graves  of  the  Greek  heroes,  The  fabrications 
the  grotto  where  Paris  pronounced  his  famous  judg-  at  ilium"' 
ment,  and  showed  them  the  trees  upon  the  tomb  of 
Protesilaus,  telling  them  how  their  foliage  withered 
away  when  their  tops  first  reached  the  height  whence 
Ilium  could  be  seen,  and  then  how  they  leafed  out 
again  more  beautiful  than  before.  Lucan,  in  the  follow- 
ing passage  from  his  ' '  Pharsalia, ' '  represents  Caesar 
wandering  across  these  famous  plains  : 

Unthinkingly  he  was  placing  his  step  in  the  thick  grass  ;  a 
Phrygian  native  forbade  him  to  tread  upon  the  ghost  of 
Hector.  Torn  asunder  lay  the  stones,  and  showing  no  ap- 
pearance of  aught  that  was  sacred. 


246 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny" s   Time. 


"Dost  thou  not  behold,"  said  the  guide,    "the   Hercaean 
Casar  at  Ilium,    altars?" 

When  venerable    antiquity  had  satisfied  the  view  of  the 


His  prayer. 


chieftain,  he  erected  momentary  altars  with  piles  of  turf 
heaped  up,  and  poured  forth  these  prayers  over  flames  that 
burned  frankincense,  to  no  purpose  : 

"Ye  gods  who  guard  these  ashes,  whoever  haunt  the 
Phrygian  ruins  ;  and  ye  Lares  of  my  JEneas,  whom  now  the 
Lavinian  abodes  and  Alba  preserve,  and  upon  whose  altars 


Traveling.  247 

still  does  the  Phrygian  fire  glow,  and  Pallas,  by  no  male 
beheld,  the  memorable  pledge  of  empire  in  the  hidden  shrine, 
the  most  illustrious  descendant  of  the  Julian  race  offers  on 
your  altars  the  pious  frankincense,  and  solemnly  invokes  you 
in  your  former  abodes  :  grant  me  for  the  future  a  fortunate 
career.  I  will  restore  the  people ;  in  grateful  return  the 
Ausonians  shall  return  to  the  Phrygians  their  walls,  and  a 
Roman  Pergamus  shall  rise." 

Egypt  rivaled  Asia  in  offering  attractions  to  rich  and 
cultivated  travelers.  Between  Puteoli  and  Alexandria  a 
line  of  boats  had  been  established.  The  trip  required 
twelve  days  and  there  was  nothing  unpleasant  about  it. 
There  were  no  sailors  or  shipbuilders  of  antiquity  more 
skilful  than  the  Alexandrines.  Their  presence  in 
Puteoli  made  this  port  an  object  of  curiosity.  Every  Puteoli 
one  admired  their  neat  little  boats,  that  could  sail  so 
fast,  and  their  huge  transports,  which  looked  like 
veritable  monsters.  The  Acatus,  which  under  the 
reign  of  Augustus  had  transported  the  obelisk  of  the 
Circus  Maximus,  could  besides  this  load  carry  as 
many  as  twelve  hundred  passengers.  It  was  the  Great 
Eastern  of  the  ancients. 

Those  who  visited  Egypt  were  usually  people  inter- 
ested in  curiosities.  Everything  in  this  old  country 
seemed  strange  to  the  Romans.  The  antiquity  of  its 
civilization  did  not  allow  the  manners  of  the  people  to 
undergo  any  transformation.  There  habits  and  cus- 
toms remained  what  they  had  been  in  the  time  of  the 
Pharaohs.  The  wonder  of  the  Nile,  the  peculiarity  of 
the  flora  and  fauna  of  the  country,  excited  the  con- 
tinual astonishment  of  strangers.  Moreover,  there  was 
no  city  more  cosmopolitan  than  Alexandria  ;  its  popu-  Aiexandria. 
lation,  which  amounted  to  nearly  one  million  inhabi- 
tants, presented  a  most  picturesque  mixture  of  all  races. 
City,  at  the  same  time,  of  commerce,  of  pleasure,  and 


248 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time, 


Canopus. 


Ancient 
monuments. 


The  caravans 
of  the  rich. 


of  study,  its  perpetual  movement,  its  feverish  activity 
offered  a  spectacle  which  could  entertain  the  most 
exacting.  The  emperor  Hadrian  even,  great  traveler 
that  he  was,  wondered  at  the  sight  : 

Here  no  one  is  idle.  Every  one  has  his  work  and  practices 
a  calling.  Even  the  blind,  the  gouty,  and  the  halt  find  some- 
thing to  do. 

And  just  outside  the  limits  of  Alexandria  was  Cano- 
pus, city  of  pleasure,  the  rival  of  Baiae.  There  were 

also  natural 
wonders  to  be 
seen,  such  as 
the  Falls  of 
Syene,  and 
great  structures 
like  the  pyra- 
mids and  the 
colossal  statue 
of  Mem  n  on. 
Upon  the  stones 
of  these  ancient 

STREET  OF  FORTUNE,  POMPEII.  monuments, 

tourists  almost  always  engraved  their  names,  with  the 
date  of  their  visit.  The  legs  of  the  statue  of  Memnon 
are  covered  with  these  inscriptions  almost  up  to  the 
knees.  Innkeepers  had  not  yet  invented  the  travelers' 
registration  book,  and  this  was  a  very  good  substitute. 
Travelers  of  moderate  means,  young  men,  people 
who  enjoyed  adventure  and  who  could  put  up  with  dis- 
comfort, used  to  journey  on  horseback.  But  the  rich 
and  the  delicate  required  a  great  caravan  to  accompany 
them  along  the  highways.  Nero  never  had  with  him 
less  than  a  thousand  carriages  ;  his  mules,  shod  in 
silver,  were  driven  by  slaves  dressed  in  a  uniform  of 


Traveling.  249 

red  tunics.  Poppaea  took  along  with  her  five  hundred 
she-asses  to  furnish  daily  milk  for  her  bath.  And, 
aside  from  this  imperial  luxury,  nothing  was  more 
magnificent  than  the  train  of  a  Roman  optimate  as  he 
journeyed.  A  large  body  of  domestics  formed  his 
retinue,  carrying  his  favorite  articles  of  furniture,  his 
tableware,  and  in  fact  all  the  objects  which  he  needed, 
or  fancied,  to  render  him  unconscious,  as  it  were,  that 
he  was  not  in  his  own  house.  The  carriage  which 
drew  him,  richly  decorated,  resting  on  springs  to  avoid 
jolting,  and  furnished  with  silk  curtains,  contained  all 
kinds  of  comforts  ;  you  could  read  or  write  in  it,  or 
even  sleep  there.  Sleeping-cars  are  not  wholly  a 
modern  invention  ;  the  ancients  had  their  sleeping  sleeping 

.  .  coaches. 

coaches.  In  some  or  their  carriages  there  were  re- 
volving chairs,  that  the  traveler  might  face  whichever 
way  he  pleased  without  exerting  himself,  and  in  others 
there  were  contrivances  for  measuring  the  distance 
traversed  and  for  indicating  the  time  of  day. 

We  shall  have  less  difficulty  in  comprehending  so 
many  refinements,  if  we  consider  that  the  travelers 
could  not  count  upon  hotels  or  inns  where  they  might 
refresh  themselves  after  their  fatigue.  It  was  not 
always  even  in  such  watering-places  as  Baiae,  Canopus, 
and  Edepsus  that  a  tourist  could  find  suitable  hotels  ;  Hotels, 
but  outside  of  these  cities,  the  most  elementary  pro- 
visions for  the  comfort  of  travelers  were  neglected. 
The  hotel-keepers  of  Southern  Europe  have  too  faith- 
fully preserved  these  old  traditions  until  the  present 
day. 

The  masters  of  the  poorest  hotels  did  not  fail,  how- 
ever, to  make  fair  promises.  Look  at  all  the  signs — 
"The  Great  Eagle,"  "The  Cock,"  "The  Crane"  — 
at  all  these  places  you  are  promised  a  good  supper  and 


250 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


An  inn  at 
Pompeii. 


Hotel-keepers. 


a  good  bed.  Some  innkeepers  recommend  their  house 
by  this  alluring  placard  :  ' '  Equal  to  the  capital. ' '  On 
the  door  of  a  hotel  at  Lyons  you 

T  might  have  read  this  naive  boast  : 
"  Here  Mercury  promises  gain, 
Apollo  health,  Septimanus  good 
cheer  at  table.  Whoever  shall  stop 
here  will  be  well  taken  care  of. 
Strangers,  consider  well  where  you 
lodge." 

Very  few  travelers,  however,  al- 
lowed themselves  to  be  deceived  ;  it 
was  too  well  known  that  only  low 
society  was  to  be  found  in  a  hotel. 
An  inn  has  been  discovered  at  Pom- 
peii in  whose  little  cells,  which  served 
as  bedrooms,  some  of  the  guests  left 
their  names.  They  were  people  of 
the  lower  classes — a  certain  praetorian 
soldier  on  a  furlough  and  some  pan- 
tomimists  who  had  come  to  the  city 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  an  enter- 
tainment. Often  the  patrons  of  these 
hotels  were  worse  than  plebeian, 
they  were  immoral. 

No  accustomed  traveler  would 
expect  from  hotel-keepers  a  scrupu- 
lous delicacy  or  considerateness. 
They  undertook  within  their  domains 
to  do  the  work  of  the  brigands  out- 
side ;  they  cheated,  they  adulterated 
the  wine,  stole  the  oats  from  the 
horses,  and  would  gladly,  had  they  dared,  have  made 
an  item  on  their  bill  of  the  fleas  that  swarmed  in  their 


CANDELABRUM. 


Traveling.  251 

house.     We  must  not,  then,  be  surprised  that  those  who 
could  afford  it  took  such  precautions  as  might  render 
them  independent  of  this  questionable  hospitality. 
What  especially  excited  the  interest  of  travelers  was 

...  111-  •       The  collections 

the  curiosities  and  the  objects  of  art  found  usually  in  of  objects  of 

...  interest  in  the 

the  temples.  1  ravelers  used  to  stop  to  visit  these  temples, 
buildings,  which  held  the  place  then  of  our  museums 
to-day.  But,  although  they  contained  much  of  value, 
there  was  absolute  lack  of  classification.  Natural  curi- 
osities and  objects  of  art  were  mixed  together  in  bizarre 
confusion.  Beside  images  or  celebrated  statues,  near 
the  works  of  great  artists,  were  displayed  cocoanuts, 
stuffed  crocodiles,  huge  serpents,  and  ants  from  India, 
enough  bric-a-brac  to  excite  the  envy  of  a  Jew  second- 
hand dealer.  In  these  collections  fancy  was  sometimes 
allowed  very  free  play.  Varro  saw  in  a  temple  of 
Sancus,  a  Sabine  deity,  the  distaff  and  spindle  of  Tana- 
quil.  At  Sparta  the  lance  of  Agesilaus  was  exhibited  ; 
at  Plataea,  a  saber  of  Mardonius.  Sometimes  the  egg 
of  Leda  was  shown,  and  also  an  amber  cup  offered  by 
Helen  to  the  Temple  of  Minerva,  at  Lindus.  Pausanias 
claimed  that  there  was  at  Panope  in  Phocis  some  of  the 
clay  left  from  which  Prometheus  had  molded  man  ; 
and  he  gravely  adds  that  this  clay  had  the  odor  of 
human  skin. 

There  was  a  whole  class  of  men  who  made  it  their 
business  either  to  guide  travelers  to  the  interesting 
places,  or  to  explain  to  them  the  sights  which  they 
beheld.  These  ancient  ciceroni  were  not  less  annoying 
sometimes  than  their  modern  successors.  It  might 
happen  occasionally  that  they  were  well-informed  and 
possessed  of  good  judgment,  but  this  was  the  excep- 
tion. Usually  they  droned  out  with  tiresome  repe- 
titions their  explanations  learned  by  heart  and  their 


252  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

marvelous  anecdotes,  invented  to  please  the  taste  of 
the  multitude.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  what  torture  such 
guides  must  have  inflicted  upon  cultivated  men  visiting 
Athens  or  Olympia,  and  Plutarch  in  this  connection 
tells  an  amusing  anecdote  in  his  essay  "On  Curiosity." 
Afnpfnecdut,e  A  company  of  people  were  visiting  the  temple  at 
Delphi,  and  they  begged  the  guides  to  spare  them  all 
explanations  in  regard  to  the  objects  that  they  were  to 
see.  But  the  guides  insisted  upon  fulfilling  their  usual 
office,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  read  all  the  inscrip- 
tions. And  yet  the  least  question  that  was  addressed 
to  them  incidentally,  or  out  of  the  usual  order,  confused 
them  so  that  they  were  unable  to  continue  for  a  time. 

Such  ignorance  astonishes  us  when  we  consider  that 
nothing  interested  the  Romans  in  their  travels  more 
than  historical  associations.  The  little  poem,  "ALtna.," 
which  is  attributed  often  to  Lucilius  Junior,  contains 
explicit  testimony  on  this  point : 

We  traverse  lands  and  seas,  at  the  peril  of  our  lives,  in 
The  historical  order  to  see  magnificent  temples,  with  their  rich  treasures, 
travel.  "  their  marble  statues,  and  sacred  antiquities  ;  we  eagerly  in- 

quire into  the  fables  of  ancient  mythology,  and  make,  as  we 
travel,  a  visit  to  every  nation.  With  what  pleasure  we  behold 
the  walls  of  Ogygian  Thebes,  and  return  in  imagination  into 
those  early  ages,  wondering  now  at  the  stones  which  obeyed 
the  voice  of  the  singer  and  the  music  of  his  lyre,  now  at  the 
altar  whence  arose  in  two  distinct  columns  the  smoke  of  the 
double  sacrifice,  now  at  the  exploits  of  the  seven  heroes  and 
the  abyss  which  swallowed  Amphiaraus.  Again  we  are  capti- 
vated by  the  Eurotas  and  the  city  of  Lycurgus  and  the  sacred 
troop  following  their  chief  to  death.  Then  we  visit  Athens, 
proud  of  her  singers,  and  of  Minerva,  her  victorious  goddess. 
Here  it  was  that  the  perfidious  Theseus  forgot,  upon  his 
return,  to  hoist  the  white  sail  that  was  to  have  informed  his 
father  of  his  success.  Was  not  Athens  responsible  for  the 
tragic  fate  of  Erigone,  now  a  celebrated  star  ?  The  story  of 
Pandion's  daughter,  Philomela,  who  fills  the  woods  with  her 


254  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

song,  and  of  her  sister  Procne,  who,  changed  to  a  nightingale, 
builds  her  nest  near  the  roofs,  and  of  Tereus  wandering  in  the 
lonely  fields — these  are  also  among  the  Athenian  myths. 

Lucilius  shows  that  very  many  travelers  were  inter- 
ested in  works  of  art  : 

Yes,  the  paintings  and  the  statues  of  Greece  fascinate  many 
Works  of  art.  ,'          /         .     °     _r  .  .  j  •      • 

people.     Now  it  is  Venus  Anadyomene,    with  her  dripping 

hair,  or  the  terrible  Colchian  princess,  with  her  young  chil- 
dren playing  at  her  feet,  now  the  sacrifice  of  Iphigenia,  or 
some  work  of  Myron.  This  profusion  of  works  in  which  so 
much  art  is  manifested  attracts  many  people,  and  you  feel 
obliged  to  go  to  see  them  in  spite  of  the  perils  of  land  and  of 
sea. 

But  probably  very  few  of  those  who  followed  the 
fashion  by  visiting  artistic  exhibitions  really  appre- 
ciated them.  The  majority  agreed  with  Tacitus,  who 
having  once  for  all  seen  the  picture  or  the  statue  that 
he  came  to  see  went  away  satisfied  and  never  returned. 
Atticus.  Almost  all  were  of  the  mind  of  Atticus,  with  whom 

Cicero  makes  us  acquainted  in  his  essay  "On  Laws": 

Those  places  which  are  associated  with  men  whom  we  love 
and  admire  produce  a  certain  impression  upon  us.  Even 
Athens,  my  favorite  city,  does  not  delight  me  so  much  by  its 
Greek  architecture  and  its  precious  masterpieces  of  the  ancient 
artists  as  by  the  recollection  that  it  arouses  in  me  of  the  great 
men  that  have  lived  there,  walked  about  its  public  squares 
conversing  together,  and  who  now  lie  buried  there. 

As  to  nature,  the  Romans  had  little  appreciation  of 
appreciation  it-  They  liked  best  calmness  in  nature  and  wished  to 
be  calm  themselves  in  order  to  enjoy  it.  While  our 
tourists  spare  themselves  no  trouble  or  expense  that 
they  may  contemplate  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps,  the 
precipices  of  the  Pyrenees,  or  the  desolate  cliffs  of 
Brittany,  while  our  artists  and  authors  try  to  cultivate 
our  taste  for  the  gloomy  grandeur  of  the  African 


Traveling.  255 

deserts,  the  ancients  were  unmoved  by  all  these  spec- 
tacles which  have  been  described  as  "beautiful  horrors." 
They  very  rarely  ascended  mountains,  and  those  of 
them  who  did  accomplish  such  feats  were  not  pleasure- 
seekers. 

Those   [says    Strabo]    who    have  climbed  to  the  summit,    , 

•  .       Mount  Argaeus. 

covered  with  eternal  snow,  ol  Mount  Argaeus,  near  Mazaca  in 

Cappadocia,  report  that  on  a  clear  day  they  can  see  from  there 
two  seas,  the  Euxine  and  the  Bay  of  Issus.  But  there  are 
very  few  that  have  dared  to  make  the  ascent. 

The  ancients  took  no  delight  in  wild  or  romantic 
scenery.  Everything  that  was  confused,  everything 
that  expressed  disorder,  not  only  failed  to  charm  them, 
but  even  shocked  them.  In  morals  they  held  the 
principle  that  there  is  nothing  great  that  is  not  calm. 
And  they  applied  the  same  principle  in  aesthetics.  They 
surely  preferred  the  Borghese  Mars  to  the  Gladiator  of  Regularity  in 
Agasias.  Their  architecture,  with  its  careful  proper-  by'th?  amfients 
tions,  where  everything  tends  to  rest  and  satisfy  the 
eye,  proceeds  from  the  same  idea  ;  their  poetry  also, 
with  its  regular  harmony,  is  inspired  by  it.  This  taste 
for  order  and  measure  is  exhibited  again  in  their  appre- 
ciation of  natural  beauties. 

Vast  plains,  beautiful  meadows,  fertile  fields,  this  [says  M. 
Boissier]  is  what  delights  them.  Lucretius  can  conceive  of 
no  greater  pleasure,  on  those  days  when  one  has  nothing  to 
do,  than  "to  lie  down  near  a  stream  of  running  water  under 
the  leafage  of  a  tall  tree,"  and  Virgil  desires,  as  the  supreme 
happiness,  always  to  love  the  fruitful  fields  and  the  rivers  Thefavorit 
which  flow  through  the  valleys.  The  foreground  of  a  land-  scenery  of 
scape  which  could  charm  a  Roman  is  made  up  of  meadows  or 
harvests,  some  beautiful  trees,  and  a  lake  or  stream  ;  a  pretty 
background  might  be  formed  by  hills  at  the  horizon,  especially 
if  their  sides  were  cultivated  and  their  summits  wooded. 

Let  us  add  that  a  distant  view  of  the  sea  would  com- 


256  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

plete  the  picture;  for  with  the  Romans  "beautiful 
sites"  and  "maritime  sites"  were  almost  synonymous 
terms. 

To  enjoy  such  pictures  there  was  no  need  of  going 
outside  of  Italy.  Did  not  the  shores  of  Latium  and  the 
Gulf  of  Naples  afford  the  Romans  their  favorite  kinds 
of  scenery  ?  Where  could  nature,  as  it  was  then  con- 
ceived, be  enjoyed  better  than  in  the  villa  of  Pollius 
The  villa  Felix  for  example  ?  Built  upon  the  heights  of  Surren- 

tum,  it  commanded  from  every  side  a  beautiful  view, 
overlooking  Ischia,  Capreae,  Procida,  and  the  sea  ; 
here  the  setting  sun  rested  when  the  day  declined, 
when  the  shadow  of  the  mountains,  with  their  crown  of 
trees,  lay  upon  the  sea. 

The  Romans  then  who  loved  nature  did  not  go 
abroad  to  enjoy  its  beauties  ;  they  remained  at  home. 
They  probably  thought  that  the  seclusion  of  a  quiet 
retreat  in  some  lovely  country  region  helps  one  to 
enjoy  more  fully  the  beauties  of  the  exterior  world,  and 
renders  one  more  capable  of  feeling  its  profound  sweet- 
ness and  of  comprehending  its  inalterable  serenity. 
However  this  may  be,  life  in  the  country  held  an  im- 
portant place  in  the  existence  of  the  Romans,  and  we 
should  omit  an  important  feature  in  this  picture  of 
their  manners  which  we  are  trying  to  present  to  the 
reader  if  we  should  not  describe  the  country  villas  and 
the  life  of  those  who  inhabited  them. 

Enjoyment   of   rural   life   was   much   more   common 

Rural  life.  J    J 

among  the  Romans  than  is  sometimes  supposed. 
Some,  men  of  the  old  school,  those  who  cherished  the 
ancient  traditions,  loved  the  country  because  they  liked 
farming  ;  but  they  did  not  form  a  very  large  class. 
Others,  and  doubtless  their  number  also  was  small, 
loved  it  for  the  poetical  emotions  which  it  inspires. 


258  Roman  Life  in  Pliny"1  s   Time. 

The  rich  and  the  powerful  loved  it  because  it  permitted 
them  to  escape  from  the  vexations  and  interruptions  of 
city  life.  The  poor  loved  it  because  there  they  found 
the  air  and  the  light  which  was  denied  them  in  their 
wretched  dwellings  in  the  narrow  streets  of  Rome.  All 
these  classes  could  sympathize  with  Horace,  when  he 
exclaimed,  ' '  O  rural  landscape,  when  shall  I  behold 
thee?"  Those  who  could  not  escape  from  the  capital 
tried  to  produce  a  semblance  of  the  country  about  their 
city  houses  by  planting  bushes  and  flowers. 

Moreover,   country  life  came  to  be  something  more 
Summer  resorts  than  a  luxury  for  those  who  enioyed   it  ;   fashion  was 

fashionable.  »  . 

absolute  in  requiring  her  votaries  to  go  to  some  summer 
resort  during  the  hottest  months  of  the  year.  A  man 
who  wished  to  hold  a  position  in  society  could  not 
afford  to  appear  on  the  streets  of  Rome  after  a  certain 
date  of  the  summer  season.  If  he  respected  himself  he 
would  leave  before  August  for  his  villa  or  for  the 
seaside.  He  would  prefer  to  hide  in  his  cellar  rather 
than  allow  his  presence  in  Rome  to  be  known.  So  all 
of  Italy,  from  the  Gulf  of  Baiae  to  the  foot  of  the  Alps, 
was  dotted  with  elegant  country  houses. 

The   emperors   set   the   example   in    building   villas. 

the\rnperors.  Tiberius  had  his  Capreae  ;  Nero  loved  to  stay  in  his 
house  at  Sublaqueum,  near  the  Anio,  and  Hadrian 
frequently  came  to  his  villa  at  Tibur,  which,  from  the 
sixteenth  century,  has  been  studied  by  several  archaeol- 
ogists, and  of  which  M.  Daumet  has  made  a  restora- 
tion. 

When  we  examine  the  plan  traced  by  this  skilful 
architect,  we  are  impressed  with  the  difference  which 
exists  between  this  habitation  and  our  princely  country 

Hadrian's  villa  seats-  Hadrian's  villa  occupies  an  immense  extent.  It 
is  a  Versailles  on  a  large  scale.  We  find  there  baths, 


Traveling.  259 

thermae,  a  hall  for  public  readings,  libraries,  and  an 
observatory  tower.  Thus  far  there  is  nothing  to  excite 
our  surprise  ;  but  we  are  astonished  to  find  three 
theaters  and  a  basilica,  and  our  wonder  increases  when 
we  learn  that  the  emperor  had  caused  to  be  reproduced 
in  his  villa  imitations  of  the  places  which  had  most 
excited  his  interest  during  his  travels  of  several  years 
through  all  the  provinces  of  his  empire.  We  find  a  His  imitations 

of  foreign 

Lyceum,  an  Academy,  a  Pcecile  (a  celebrated  portico  places, 
at  Athens),  a  prytaneum  (in  many  Greek  towns  a  public 
building  sacred  to  Hestia,  and  containing  the  state 
hearth),  a  Canopus  (city  of  Lower  Egypt,  a  famous 
pleasure  resort),  a  Vale  of  Tempe,  and  even,  says  Spar- 
tianus,  "in  order  that  nothing  might  be  wanting,  it 
occurred  to  him  to  make  a  reproduction  of  Hell  there." 
We  must  suppose,  however,  that  Hadrian  had  sufficient 
good  sense  and  taste  not  to  attempt  to  make  these  im- 
itations literal  ;  they  were  doubtless  very  free.  But, 
nevertheless,  to  execute  them  at  all  must  have  required 
the  removal  of  enormous  quantities  of  earth. 

Hadrian  in  all  this  was  not  original.     The  Romans, 

,  ,      .,,  ™,  ,     Landscape  gar- 

even  in  the  country,  were  great  builders.     The  natural  dening  among 

conformation  of  the  land  seemed  to  have  no  charm  for 
them.  A  site  seemed  to  them  beautiful  in  proportion 
to  the  pains  which  they  had  taken  to  remodel  it  accord- 
ing to  their  taste  and  their  fancy.  Notice  how  Statius 
admires  the  achievements  of  the  workmen  who  con- 
structed the  villa  of  Pollius  Felix  : 

There  where  a  plain  extends  was  formerly  a  mountain  ; 
where  now  you  walk  under  the  shelter  of  a  roof  there  used  to 
be  a  frightful  solitude  ;  where  now  large  trees  stand  there  was 
not  even  earth  before.  Truly  the  land  has  learned  to  bear  the 
yoke.  The  palace  advances  and  the  mountain  withdraws, 
obedient  to  the  master's  command. 


260  Roman  Life  in  Pliny" s   Time, 

Even    in    their   love  for  nature  the  Romans  exhibited 
their  conquering  disposition. 

One  peculiarity  of  Hadrian's  villa,  which  arrests  the 
attention  of  us  moderns,  is  thus  described  by  M. 
Boissier  : 

The  ensemble  of  these  vast  edifices  escapes  us.     We  admire 
metry°inSyn          their  variety  ;  we  find  a  remarkable  fecundity  of  invention  and 
Hadrian's  villa,    resource  in  them,  but  we  are  astonished  at  not  seeing  more 
symmetry.     .     .     .     The  architect  seems  to  have  added  build- 
ings one  to  the  other  as  their  want  was  felt,  without  troubling 
himself  about  the  effect  that  might  be  produced  by  the  whole. 

This  is  quite  contrary  to  all  our  ideas  ;  but  as  we 
have  already  had  occasion  to  say,  the  Romans  cared 
little  about  symmetry  ;  even  their  city  houses  were  not 
symmetrical.  The  forum  was  only  a  confusion  of 
temples,  of  trophies,  and  of  basilicas.  Five  or  six 
palaces  encumbered  the  Palatine  Hill.  All  the  more  in 
the  country  should  we  expect  to  find  regularity  of  out- 
line dispensed  with. 

The  general  arrangements  of  Hadrian's  villa  are  re- 

Tbe  country  ,   .        ,,     ,  ,  f    ,  ,  .        _ 

homes  of  the  peated  in  all  the  country  houses  of  the  wealthy  Romans. 
The  various  buildings  which  we  have  enumerated,  with 
the  exception  of  those  useful  only  to  a  prince  or  those 
which  are  purely  fanciful  creations,  are  found  in  the 
villas  of  which  we  find  descriptions  in  Roman  litera- 
ture. Pliny  has  written  at  length  about  his  two  villas, 
the  Tuscan  and  the  Laurentine.  Pliny's  tastes  were 
modest,  as  we  know,  but  his  reputation  and  his  rank 
obliged  him  to  live  in  style.  His  country  seats,  then, 

Pliny's  Lauren-  can  furnish  us  an  idea  of  an  ordinary  villa.  Let  us 
follow  him  as  our  guide  over  his  Laurentine  estate  : 

My  house  is  for  use,  not  for  show.     You  first  enter  a  court- 

The  courtyard,    yard,  plain  and  simple  without  being  mean,  and  then  pass 

into  a  colonnade  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  D,   the  space 


Traveling. 


261 


inclosed  by  which  looks  bright  and  cheerful.     Here  one  has  a' 

capital  place  of  retreat  in  bad  weather,  for  there  are  windows 

all  round  it  and  it  is  sheltered  by  a  projection  on  the  roof. 

Opposite  the  middle  of  the  colonnade  is  a  very  pleasant  inner 

court,  which  leads  into  a  handsome  dining-room  running  out   Dining-room. 

to  the  seashore.     When  the  wind  is  in  the  southwest  its  walls 

are  gently  washed  by  the  waves  which  break  at  its  foot.     The 

room  has  folding-doors,  or  windows  as  large  as  doors,  and 


from  these  you  might  imagine  you  see  three  different  seas. 
From  another  point  you  look  through  the  colonnade  into  the 
court  and  see  the  mountains  in  the  distance.  To  the  left  of 
the  dining-room,  a  little  further  from  the  sea,  is  a  spacious 
sitting-room,  within  that  a  smaller  room,  one  side  of  which 
gets  the  morning  and  the  other  the  afternoon  sun.  This  I 
make  my  winter  snuggery.  Then  comes  a  room  the  windows  Bedrooms 
of  which  are  so  arranged  that  they  secure  the  sun  for  us  and  Parlors- 
during  the  whole  day.  In  its  walls  is  a  bookcase  for  such 
works  as  can  never  be  read  too  often.  Next  to  this  is  a  bed- 
room connected  with  it  by  a  raised  passage  furnished  with 
pipes,  which  supply,  at  a  wholesome  temperature,  and  dis- 
tribute to  all  parts  of  this  room,  the  heat  they  receive.  The 


262  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

remainder  of  this  side  of  the  house  is  appropriated  to  the 
use  of  my  slaves  and  freedmen,  but  yet  most  of  the  apart- 
ments in  it  are  neat  enough  to  entertain  any  of  my  friends  who 
are  inclined  to  be  my  guests. 

In  the  opposite  wing  is  a  room  ornamented  in  very  elegant 
taste  ;  next  to  it  lies  another  room  which,  though  large  for  a 
parlor,  makes  but  a  moderate  dining-room.  It  is  warmed 
and  lighted  not  only  by  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  but  also  by 
their  reflection  from  the  sea.  Beyond  this  is  a  bed-chamber 
and  its  ante-chamber,  so  high  that  it  is  cool  in  summer,  and  it 
is  warm  in  winter,  too,  being  sheltered  on  every  side.  Another 
apartment  of  the  same  sort  is  separated  from  this  by  a 
common  wall.  Thence  you  enter  the  grand,  spacious  cooling- 
Baths  room  belonging  to  the  baths,  from  whose  opposite  walls  two 

round  basins  project,  large  enough  to  swim  in.  Adjoining  this 
is  the  perfuming-room,  then  the  sweating-room,  and  beyond 
that  the  furnace  which  conveys  the  heat  to  the  baths  ;  two 
more  little  bathing-rooms  which  are  fitted  up  in  an  elegant 
rather  than  costly  manner  join  the  latter  room  ;  annexed  to 
the  little  bathing-rooms  is  a  warm  bath  of  extraordinary 
workmanship,  in  which  one  may  swim  and  have  a  view  of  the 
sea  at  the  same  time.  Not  far  from  there  stands  the  tennis- 
Tennis-court,  court,  which  lies  open  to  the  warmth  of  the  afternoon  sun. 
Thence  you  ascend  a  sort  of  turret  which  contains  two  entire 
apartments  below,  the  same  number  above,  and  also  a  dining- 
room  which  commands  a  very  extensive  prospect  of  the  sea 
and  coast,  together  with  the  beautiful  villas  that  stand  scat- 
tered upon  it. 

At  the  other  end  is  a  second  turret  containing  a  room  which 
faces  the  rising  and  setting  sun.  Behind  this  is  a  large  room 
for  a  repository,  near  to  which  is  a  gallery  of  curiosities  and 
underneath  a  spacious  dining-room,  where  the  roaring  of  the 
sea  even  in  a  storm  is  but  faintly  heard  ;  it  looks  upon  the 
garden  and  the  gestatio  [a  promenade  or  driveway],  which 
T,  .  surrounds  the  garden.  The  gestatio  is  encompassed  with  a 

box-tree  hedge,  and  where  that  is  decayed  with  rosemary  ; 
for  the  box  in  those  parts  which  are  sheltered  by  the  buildings 
preserves  its  verdure  perfectly  well,  but  where  by  an  open 
situation  it  lies  exposed  to  the  dashing  of  the  sea-water, 
though  at  a  great  distance,  it  entirely  withers.  Between  the 
garden  and  this  gestatio  runs  a  shady  walk  of  vines,  which  is 


Traveling.  263 

so  soft  that  you  may  walk  barefoot  upon  it  without  any  injury. 
The  garden  is  chiefly  planted  with  fig  and  mulberry  trees,  to 
which  this  soil  is  peculiarly  favorable.  Here  is  a  dining-room, 
which,  though  it  is  at  a  distance  from  the  sea,  commands  a 
prospect  no  less  pleasant.  Behind  this  room  are  two  apart- 
ments, the  windows  of  which  look  out  on  the  entrance  to  the 
house,  and  to  a  well-stocked  kitchen-garden. 

You  then  enter  a  sort  of  cloister,  which  you  might  suppose 
built  for  public  use.  It  has  a  range  of  windows  on  each  side  ;  cloister 
in  fair  weather  we  open  all  of  them  ;  if  it  blows,  we  shut  those 
on  the  exposed  side  and  are  perfectly  sheltered.  In  front  of 
this  colonnade  is  a  terrace,  fragrant  with  the  scent  of  violets 
and  warmed  by  the  reflection  of  the  sun  from  the  portico. 
We  find  this  a  very  pleasant  place  in  winter,  and  still  more  so 
in  summer,  for  then  it  throws  a  shade  on  the  terrace  during 
the  forenoon,  while  in  the  afternoon  we  can  walk  under  its 
shade  in  the  place  of  exercise,  or  in  the  adjoining  part  of  the 
garden.  The  portico  is  the  coolest  when  the  sun's  rays 
strike  perpendicularly  on  its  roof.  By  setting  open  the 
windows  the  soft  western  breezes  have  a  free  draught,  and  so 
the  air  is  never  close  and  oppressive. 

On  the  upper  end  of  the  terrace  and  portico  stands  a 
detached  building  in  the  garden  which  I  call  my  favorite,  and  bu^dfnl  " 
in  truth  I  am  extremely  fond  of  it  as  I  built  it  myself.  It  con- 
tains a  warm  winter-room,  one  side  of  which  looks  upon  the 
terrace,  the  other  has  a  view  of  the  sea,  and  both  lie  exposed 
to  the  sun.  Through  the  folding-doors  you  see  the  opposite 
chamber  and  from  the  window  is  a  prospect  of  the  inclosed 
portico.  On  the  side  next  the  sea,  and  opposite  the  middle 
wall,  stands  a  little  closet,  elegant  and  retired,  which  is 
separated  from  or  thrown  into  the  adjoining  room  by  means  of 
glass  doors  and  a  curtain.  It  contains  a  couch  and  two 
chairs.  As  you  lie  upon  this  couch,  from  the  foot  you  have 
a  view  of  the  sea  ;  if  you  look  behind  you,  you  see  the  neigh- 
boring villas,  and  from  the  head  you  have  the  woods  in  sight. 
These  three  views  may  be  seen  distinctly  from  so  many 
different  windows  in  the  room,  or  blended  together  in  one 
confused  prospect. 

Adjoining  to  this  is  a  bed-chamber  which  neither  the 
voice  of  the  servants,  the  murmur  of  the  sea,  nor  even  the 
roaring  of  a  tempest  can  reach  ;  neither  lightning  nor  day 


264  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

itself  can  penetrate  it  unless  you  open  the  windows.  This 
profound  tranquillity  is  secured  by  a  passage  which  divides 
the  wall  of  this  chamber  from  that  of  the  garden,  and 
thus  by  means  of  the  empty  space  every  noise  is  drowned. 
Annexed  to  this  is  a  small  stove-room  which,  by  opening 
a  little  window,  warms  the  bed-chamber  to  the  degree  of 
heat  required.  Beyond  this  lies  a  chamber  and  ante-chamber 
which  has  the  sun,  obliquely  to  be  sure,  from  the  time  it 
rises  till  the  afternoon.  When  I  retire  to  this  garden  apart- 
ment I  fancy  myself  a  hundred  miles  from  my  own  house, 
and  take  particular  pleasure  in  it  at  the  feast  of  the  Satur- 
nalia, when,  by  license  of  that  season  of  joy,  every  other 
part  of  my  villa  resounds  with  the  mirth  of  my  domestics  ; 
thus  I  neither  interrupt  their  diversions  nor  do  they  hinder 
my  studies. 
Amid  the  conveniences  and  attractions  of  the  place,  there  is 

supply?1"  one  drawback  ;  we  want  running  water.     However,  we  have 

wells,  or  rather  springs,  at  our  command.  Such  is  the  extraor- 
dinary nature  of  the  ground  that  in  whatever  part  you  dig,  as 
soon  as  you  have  turned  up  the  surface  of  the  soil  you  meet 
with  a  spring  of  perfectly  pure  water,  altogether  free  from  any 
salt  taste.  The  neighboring  woods  supply  us  with  fuel  in 
abundance,  and  all  kinds  of  provisions  may  be  had  from 
Ostia.  A  man  with  few  and  simple  wants  might  get  all  he 
required  from  the  next  village.  In  that  little  place  there  are 
three  public  baths,  a  very  great  convenience,  in  case  my 
friends  come  in  unexpectedly,  and  my  bath  is  not  ready 
heated  and  prepared.  The  whole  coast  is  prettily  studded 
with  detached  villas  or  rows  of  villas,  which,  whether  you 
view  them  from  the  sea  or  shore,  look  like  a  collection  of 
towns.  The  strand  is  sometimes,  after  a  long  calm,  perfectly 
smooth,  though  in  general,  by  the  storms  driving  the  waves 
upon  it,  it  is  rough  and  uneven.  I  cannot  say  that  we  have 
any  very  fine  fish,  but  we  get  excellent  soles  and  prawns.  As 

The  supply  of  to  other  kinds  of  provisions,  my  house  is  better  off  than  those 
which  are  inland,  especially  as  to  milk,  for  the  cattle  come 
here  in  great  numbers  to  seek  water  and  shade.  Tell  me 
now,  have  I  not  just  cause  to  bestow  my  time  and  my  affec- 
tion upon  this  delightful  retreat  ?  Surely  you  are  unreasonably 
attached  to  the  pleasures  of  the  town  if  you  have  no  inclina- 
tion to  take  a  view  of  it.  I  only  wish  that  to  its  many  charms 


Traveling. 


265 


there  might  be  made  the  very  considerable  addition  of  your 
company  to  recommend  it.     Farewell. 

Much  more  modest  was  the  villa  of  Suetonius  Tran- 
quillus.  This  learned  man  had  not  grown  rich  by  his 
writings  ;  yet  he  wished  for  a  retreat  where  he  might 
live  at  ease,  and  he  requested  his  friend  Pliny  to  secure 
for  him  a  little  piece  of  property  which  he  thought 
would  suit  his  pur- 
pose. Let  us  see 
how  the  amiable 
Pliny  fulfils  the  com- 
mission : 

My  friend  and  guest, 
Tranquillus,  has  an 
inclination  to  purchase 
a  small  farm,  of  which, 
as  I  am  informed,  an 
acquaintance  of  yours 
intends  to  dispose.  I 
beg  you  would  en- 
deavor he  may  get  it 
upon  reasonable 
terms ;  which  will  add 
to  his  satisfaction  in 
the  purchase.  A  dear 
bargain  is  always  a 
disagreeable  thing, 
particularly  as  it  re- 
flects upon  the  buyer's 
judgment.  There  are 
several  circumstances 
attending  this  little 
villa,  which  (suppos- 
ing my  friend  has  no  objection  to  the  price)  are  extremely 
suitable  to  his  tastes  and  desires :  the  convenient  distance  from 
Rome,  the  goodness  of  the  roads,  the  smallness  of  the  build- 
ing, and  the  very  few  acres  of  land  around  it,  which  are  just 
enough  to  amuse  him,  without  taking  up  his  time.  To  a  man 


PORTRAIT  STATUE.    Vatican. 


Pliny's  attempt 
to  make  a 
good  bargain. 


266  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 

of  Tranquillus's  studious  turn  it  is  sufficient  if  he  have  but  a 
small  spot  to  relieve  the  mind  and  divert  the  eye,  where  he 
may  saunter  round  his  grounds,  traverse  his  single  walk,  grow 
familiar  with  all  his  little  vines,  and  count  the  trees  in  his 
shrubbery.  I  mention  these  particulars  to  let  you  see  how 
much  he  will  be  obliged  to  me,  as  I  shall  be  to  you,  if  you  can 
help  him  to  this  convenient  little  box,  at  a  price  which  he  shall 
have  no  occasion  to  repent.  Farewell. 

This  house  of  Suetonius,  which  reminds  us  a  little  of 
Horace's,  was  very  suitable  for  a  literary  man  of 
moderate  fortune.  It  might  also  have  been  purchased 
by  some  freedman  in  easy  circumstances,  or  some  small 
tradesman  who  had  retired  from  business,  after  having 
earned  enough  to  live  on.  It  is  the  type  of  those 
dwellings  which  furnished  a  restful  retreat  for  people  of 
the  middle  class,  for  all  those  who  in  a  later  age  might 
dream  of  the  little  white  house  with  green  blinds  fondly 
imagined  by  J.  J.  Rousseau. 

With  us  a  country  house  suggests  the  idea  of  beauti- 
TheartofLa  ful  gardens  and  extensive  grounds  laid  out  with  taste. 

Quintinie.  ITTI  T-I      -1  11  r        T  /-^      •         •      •       i  )         f 

What  Boileau  calls  the  art  of  La  Quintinie  (a 
French  agriculturist)  has  been  singularly  developed  in 
our  modern  civilization.  This  art  since  the  time  of 
Dufresny  (French  author  and  horticulturist)  and  his 
charming  creations  has  been  exercised  by  real  masters. 
There  was  nothing  like  it  among  the  Romans.  The 
old  paintings  which  contain  representations  of  their 
gardens  enable  us  to  form  a  fairly  correct  idea  of  them. 
M.  Boissier  says  : 

These  are  always  regular  alleys,  shut  in  by  two  walls  of 
The  Roman  hornbeam,  cutting  each  other  at  right  angles.  In  the  center  a 
kind  of  round  space  is  usually  found,  with  a  basin  in  which 
swans  are  swimming  about.  Every  here  and  there  little 
arbors  of  greenery  have  been  arranged,  formed  of  canes 
interlaced  and  covered  with  vines,  at  whose  end  a  marble 


Traveling.  267 

column  or  a  statue  is  seen,  with  seats  placed  around  to  allow 
promenaders  to  rest  for  a  moment. 

These  paintings  remind  one  of  the  following  saying  of 
Quintilian,  which  naively  expresses  the  taste  of  his  age  :  "Is 
there  anything  finer  than  a  quincunx  so  disposed  that  from 
whatever  side  one  looks  only  straight  alleys  are  perceived?  " 

The  Romans  were  not  satisfied  with  having  their 
trees  planted  in  regular  lines  ;  the  trees  themselves  had 
to  be  trimmed  with  precision,  and  even  cut  into  geo- 
metrical forms.  Furthermore — and  this  is  the  worst 
part  of  it — trees  were  tortured  into  all  sorts  of  shapes, 
for  Pliny  says,  ' '  In  my  garden  the  box  represents 
several  animals  looking  at  each  other." 

To  be  just,  however,  we  must  admit  that  the  Romans 
did  not  possess  the  means  which  we  have  at  our  com- 
mand to-day  for  making  gardens  of  varied  beauty.  The 
discovery  of  America  has  enriched  Europe  with  a  large 
number  of  strange  or  magnificent  trees.  Modern  flora 
besides  have. assumed  a  variety  and  a  splendor  which 
the  ancients  never  dreamed  of.  They  were  able,  how- 
ever, to  enjoy  the  luxury  of  flowers  ;  Campania  and  Ancient  and 

fr    f  modern  flora. 

Paestum  reaped  a  good  revenue  by  furnishing  the 
capital  with  flowers.  During  the  winter  they  were 
raised  in  hot-houses  or  imported  from  Egypt.  But  this 
luxury  consisted  only  in  the  abundance  of  flowers  of  a 
very  few  kinds,  not  in  the  variety  and  multiplicity  of 
species.  A  flower  bed  was  considered  exceptionally 
fine  if  it  contained  some  pretty  clumps  of  lilies,  of  roses, 
or  of  violets,  like  Pliny's  at  his  Tuscan  villa.  In  short, 
the  ancients  were  acquainted  with  but  a  very  limited 
variety  of  flowers  ;  a  list  of  the  different  kinds  might  be 
prepared  from  Meleager's  "Garland,"  a  poem  in 
which  the  Alexandrine  compares  each  celebrated  poet 
to  some  flower.  How  much  more  copious  are  our 
horticultural  catalogues  ! 


268  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

Walking  in  these  poor  gardens  could  not  have  been 
a  very  delightful  recreation.     How  then   did  the   Ro- 
mans pass  their  time  in  the  country  ?     Pliny,  writing  to 
his  friend  Fuscus,  informs  us  how  he  occupies  himself 
Tuscan  vi'ifa.       at  his  villa  at  Tuscum  : 

You  want  to  know  how  I  portion  out  my  day  in  my  summer 
villa  at  Tuscum  ?  I  get  up  just  when  I  please  ;  generally 
about  sunrise,  often  earlier,  but  seldom  later  than  this.  I 
keep  the  shutters  closed,  as  darkness  and  silence  wonderfully 
promote  meditation.  Thus  free  and  abstracted  from  those 
outward  objects  which  dissipate  attention,  I  am  left  to  my 

Literar>'  work,  own  thoughts ;  nor  suffer  my  mind  to  wander  with  my  eyes, 
but  keep  my  eyes  in  subjection  to  my  mind,  which,  when  they 
are  not  distracted  by  a  multiplicity  of  external  objects,  see 
nothing  but  what  the  imagination  represents  to  them.  If  I 
have  any  work  in  hand,  this  is  the  time  I  choose  for  thinking 
it  out,  word  for  word,  even  to  the  minutest  accuracy  of  ex- 
pression. In  this  way  I  compose  more  or  less,  according  as 
the  subject  is  more  or  less  difficult,  and  I  find  myself  able  to 
retain  it.  I  then  call  my  secretary,  and,  opening  the  shutters, 
dictate  to  him  what  I  have  put  into  shape,  after  which  I  dis- 
miss him,  then  call  him  in  again,  and  again  dismiss  him. 

Recreation  and     About  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  (for  I  do  not  observe  one  fixed 

workcombmed.  ^our^  according  to  the  weather,  I  either  walk  upon  my 
terrace  or  in  the  covered  portico,  and  there  I  continue  to 
meditate  or  dictate  what  remains  upon  the  subject  in  which  I 
am  engaged.  This  completed,  I  get  into  my  chariot,  where  I 
employ  myself  as  before,  when  I  was  walking,  or  in  my  study ; 
and  find  this  change  of  scene  refreshes  and  keeps  up  my 
attention.  On  my  return  home  I  take  a  little  nap,  then  a  walk, 
and  after  that  repeat  out  loud  and  distinctly  some  Greek  or 
Latin  speech,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  strengthening  my 
voice  as  my  digestion  ;  though  indeed  the  voice  at  the  same 
time  is  strengthened  by  this  practice.  I  then  take  another 
walk,  am  anointed,  do  my  exercises,  and  go  into  the  bath. 

The  evening  ^  supper,  if  I  have  only  my  wife  or  a  few  friends  with  me, 
some  author  is  read  to  us  ;  and  after  supper  we  are  enter- 
tained either  with  music  or  an  interlude.  When  this  is 
finished  I  take  my  walk  with  my  family,  among  whom  I  am 


Traveling.  269 

not  without  some  scholars.  Thus  we  pass  our  evenings  in 
varied  conversation  ;  and  the  day,  even  when  at  the  longest, 
steals  imperceptibly  away. 

We  see  that  Pliny's  occupations  are  by  no  means   Diocletian and 
rural.     The  story  is  that  Diocletian  used  to  cultivate  his   hlslettuce- 
lettuce     himself   after   he   had   laid   down  his  scepter. 
But  Pliny  did  not  leave  his  pen  to  water  his  flower  beds. 
And  if  he  went  hunting  he  took  his  writing  tablets  with 
him,  as  we  learn  from  the  following  letter  : 

You  will  laugh  (and  you  are  quite  welcome)  when  I  tell  you 
that  your  old  acquaintance  is  turned  sportsman,  and  has  taken 
three  noble  boars.  "What!"  you  exclaim,  "Pliny!" — Even 
he.  However,  I  indulged  at  the  same  time  my  beloved  inac- 
tivity ;  and  whilst  I  sat  at  my  nets  you  would  have  found  me, 
not  with  boar-spear  or  javelin,  but  pencil  and  tablet,  by  my 
side.  I  mused  and  wrote,  being  determined  to  return,  if  with 
my  hands  empty,  at  least  with  my  memorandums  full.  Believe 
me,  this  way  of  studying  is  not  to  be  despised  ;  it  is  wonderful  go°VJhuming. 
how  the  mind  is  stirred  and  quickened  into  activity  by  brisk 
bodily  exercise.  There  is  something,  too,  in  the  solemnity  of 
the  venerable  woods  with  which  one  is  surrounded,  together 
with  that  profound  silence  which  is  observed  on  these  occa- 
sions, that  forcibly  disposes  the  mind  to  meditation.  So  for 
the  future,  let  me  advise  you,  whenever  you  hunt,  to  take  your 
tablets  along  with  you,  as  well  as  your  basket  and  bottle  ;  for 
be  assured  you  will  find  Minerva  no  less  fond  of  traversing  the 
hills  than  Diana.  Farewell. 

People  who  were  not  so  intellectually  inclined  as  Pliny 
found  sufficient  amusement  in  those  forms  of  recreation 
that   are   common   to-day.       The    young    and    strong 
enjoyed    horseback    riding.       Those   who   had   grown   Horseback 
heavy  with  age,  or  whom  sickness  had  rendered  weak,    "dms- 
had   themselves   carried   about   outdoors   in   litters   or 
sedan-chairs  ;  this  took  the  place  with  the  Romans  of 
our  carriage  driving.      In  the  gardens  and  parks  of  the 
villas  there  were  walks,  composed  of  sand  and  chalk, 


270  Roman  Life  in  Pliny 's   Time. 

over  which  a  litter  could  easily  be  carried  without  jar  or 
Hunting.  jolt.      Hunting  had  devotees  more  ardent  than   Pliny. 

To  convince  one's  self  of  this,  it  is  only  necessary  to  read 
the  third  book  of  the  "Georgics,"  in  which  Virgil 
gives  instruction  as  to  the  choice  of  dogs  suitable  for 
running  down  the  boar  and  the  stag.  As  the  villas  were 
usually  situated  near  a  lake,  a  river,  or  the  sea,  fishing 
must  have  been  a  favorite  amusement.  Did  not  Ovid, 
who  wrote  for  fashionable  people,  compose  a  poem 
entitled  ' '  Halieutica, "  or  "  Fishing, ' '  in  which  he  com- 
pared terrestrial  with  aquatic  animals  ?  Does  not  this 
prove  that  fishing  was,  as  we  said,  a  popular  sport  ? 

Croquet  was  not  known  among  the  Romans,  but  they 
were  familiar  with  the  game  of  tennis,  and  had  their 
champion  players.  Spurinna,  who  enjoyed,  according 
to  Pliny,  the  old  age  of  a  wise  man,  did  not  like  to  miss 
his  game  of  tennis  after  his  bath.  We  cannot  regret 
that  the  silent  whist  had  not  yet  been  invented,  but  the 
Chess  and  dice.  Romans  played  chess  and  a  game  of  dice. 

To  sum  up,  in  their  country  houses,  as  well  as 
upon  their  travels,  the  Romans  remained  faithful  to  the 
essentially  practical  genius  of  their  race.  When  jour- 
neying they  did  not  seek  for  adventures  or  for  scenes 
that  would  arouse  their  poetic  emotions.  They  loved 
historic  sites,  because  they  conceived  of  history  as  the 
D  .  ,  school  of  life.  When  in  the  country  they  desired  repose 

repose  and          ancj  freedom,  outdoor  life  that  exercises  the  muscles  and 

ireedom. 

renews  the  blood,  life  without  business  and  without  re- 
straint which  refreshes  the  mind  and  calms  the  soul. 

There  leisure  [said  Pliny]  is  more  complete,  more  sure,  and 
consequently  more  sweet  ;  no  ceremonial  must  be  observed  ; 
troublesome  people  do  not  intrude  ;  all  is  calm  and  peaceful ; 
and  besides  this  profound  repose,  there  is  the  healthfulness  of 
the  climate,  the  serenity  of  the  sky,  and  the  purity  of  the  air. 


CHAPTER   X. 

RETIREMENT  FROM  ACTIVE  LIFE,   DEATH,   AND  BURIAL. 

UNDER  the  ancient  republic  the  individual  belonged 
to  the  city.  The  service  of  the  state  occupied  the  whole  The  service 
life  of  a  Roman  from  his  birth  to  his  death.  Cato,  who, 
in  the  eyes  of  Cicero,  was  an  ideal  citizen,  bore  arms  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and  when  he  was  eighty- 
four  years  old,  in  the  very  year  of  his  death,  he 
impeached  before  the  people  Servius  Sulpicius  Galba. 

But  in  the  time  of  the  Gracchi  a  great  change  began  to 
appear  in  the  manners  of  the  Romans.  The  struggles 
between  parties,  the  fruitless  agitations  stirred  up  by 
ambitious  men,  after  having  weakened  the  spring  of 
civic  activity,  finally  broke  it.  When  politics  fell  into 
the  hands  of  selfish  and  quarrelsome  schemers,  many  corruption 
good  statesmen  began  to  feel  that  it  was  not  worth  ofpo1' 
while  to  give  one's  whole  life  to  the  public,  and  so  after 
a  few  years  spent  in  serving  their  country,  disgusted  or 
weary,  they  would  go  into  retirement.  At  first  retire- 
ment from  active  life  seemed  excusable  merely,  but 
before  long  it  was  regarded  as  even  praiseworthy. 
Pliny  does  not  hesitate  to  congratulate  his  friend  Pom- 
ponius  Bassus  upon  having  decided  to  seek  that  repose 

1-111-          1  r  111  r  i  Retirement 

which  he  himself  would  have  found  very  pleasant.  from  active  life. 

I  had  the  great  pleasure  [he  writes]  of  hearing  from  our 
common  friends  that  you  take  your  leisure  and  lay  it  out  as  a 
man  of  your  good  sense  ought ;  living  down  in  a  charming  part 
of  the  country  and  varying  your  amusements — sometimes 
driving,  sometimes  going  out  for  a  sail,  holding  frequent 
learned  discussions  and  conferences,  reading  a  good  deal,  and, 

271 


272 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 


Pliny's  letter 
to  Bassus. 


The  new 
regime. 


in  a  word,  daily  increasing  that  fund  of  knowledge  you  already 
possess.  This  is  to  grow  old  in  a  way  worthy  of  one  who  has 
discharged  the  highest  offices  both  civil  and  military,  and  who 
gave  himself  up  entirely  to  the  service  of  the  state  while  it 
became  him  to  do  so.  Our  morning  and  midday  of  life  we 
owe  to  our  country,  but  our  declining  age  is  due  to  ourselves. 

This   desire   for   retirement  from    active   life,    which 
under  the  expiring  republic  influenced  Sulla  to  abdicate 


TIBUR  (MODERN  TIVOLI). 

and  Lucullus  to  withdraw  from  the  turbulent  political 
contests  of  his  time  to  enjoy  the  elegant  luxury  of  his 
home,  was  under  the  empire  very  rapidly  developed. 

The  character  of  the  new  regime  favored  its  develop- 
ment. Absolute  power  tolerates  political  activity  only 
when  employed  in  its  own  service.  All  those  who 
through  family  tradition  or  natural  independence  of 
spirit  might  have  been  disposed  to  take  a  firm  but  mod- 
erate stand  against  the  government,  understood  that 
they  would  lose  their  pains,  and  they  preferred  to 


Retirement  from  Active  Life.  273 

renounce  the  service  of  the  state  rather  than  enter  into 

the  emperor's  servitude.       As  to  the  patricians,    who  The  course  of 

the  patricians. 

owed  it  to  their  names  to  be  uncompromising,  their 
course  was  clear — to  hold  aloof,  and  maintain  silence. 
Silence  is  a  strong  expression  of  protest  ;  and  for  them 
at  this  time  no  other  expression  of  it  was  possible. 

The  new  men,  those  who  were  not  obliged  by  their 
birth  to  bear  themselves  as  enemies  of  the  imperial  sys-  The  "ew  IP.e" 

J          in  political  life. 

tern,  who  hoped  to  be  useful  to  the  public,  entered  into 
active  life  but  did  not  remain  there  long.  If  their 
ability  was  but  mediocre,  the  emperor  was  soon  tired  of 
them.  If  it  was  superior,  they  became  disgusted  by  the 
continual  sacrifice  of  independence  which  they  were 
obliged  to  make  ;  sometimes  even  they  found  cause  to 
be  deeply  offended.  We  cannot  doubt  that  Seneca  senecain 
entered  public  life  with  the  noblest  intentions,  and  that  p 
he  truly  possessed  the  capacity  of  a  statesman,  but  in 
spite  of  his  culpable  weaknesses,  he  understood  after 
some  years  that  he  was  disliked  by  Nero,  and  that  his 
safety  lay  in  making  himself  forgotten. 

If  the  state  [he  says  in  one  of  his  treatises]  is  corrupt  beyond 
the  possibility  of  cure,  if  it  is  in  the  hands  of  wicked  men,  the 
wise  man  should  not  waste  his  time  in  useless  efforts,  nor 
spend  his  strength  in  vain. 

He   abandoned,    therefore,    his    position    at    Nero's 

.  ,         .     ,  ,  j     1  •         i-        •        1  His  withdrawal 

court,  not  without  having  begged  his  dismissal  as  a  from  court, 
favor,  for  he  feared  that  otherwise  his  departure  might 
look  like  a  form  of  opposition.  He  even  desired  to 
resign  all  the  advantages  attached  to  the  possession  of 
power,  and  offered  his  fortune  to  Nero.  The  emperor 
refused  to  accept  it ;  but  Seneca,  in  order  to  escape 
attention,  led  thereafter  the  life  of  a  poor  man. 

Under  certain  emperors  retirement  was  not  only 
advisable  but  necessary.  In  the  time  of  Caligula,  of 


274  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

Nero,  and  of  Domitian  there  was  a  veritable  reign  of 
A  reign  of          terror.     Those  who  had  the  misfortune  of  living  in  these 

terror.  >      .  ' 

terrible  years  never  felt  that  their  heads  were  safe,  and 

their  hearts  beat  continually  in  the  expectation  of  death. 

But  even  under  the  emperors  who  were  not  monsters 

retirement  from  active  life  was  a  useful  precaution  for 

Spurinna's          political  men.     This  was  well  understood  by  Spurinna, 

old  age.  .  . 

whose  sweet  and  lovely  old  age  Pliny,  in  the  following 
letter,  describes  for  us  : 

I  know  not  that  I  ever  passed  a  pleasanter  time  than  lately 
with  Spurinna.  There  is  indeed  no  man  I  shall  so  much  wish 
to  resemble  in  my  own  old  age  if  I  am  permitted  to  grow  old. 
Nothing  can  be  finer  than  such  a  mode  of  life.  For  my  part  I 
like  a  well-ordered  course  of  life,  particularly  in  old  men,  just 
as  I  admire  the  regular  order  of  the  stars.  Some  amount  of 

His  regular         irregularity  and  even  of  confusion  is  not  unbecoming  in  youth  ; 

mode  of  life.  but  everything  should  be  regular  and  methodical  with  old  men 
who  are  too  late  for  labor  and  in  whom  ambition  would  be 
indecent.  This  regularity  Spurinna  strictly  observes,  and  his 
occupations,  trifling  as  they  are  (trifling,  that  is,  were  they  not 
performed  day  by  day  continually),  he  repeats  as  it  were  in  a 
circle. 

At  dawn  he  keeps  his  bed,  at  seven  he  asks  for  his  slippers  ; 
he  then  walks  just  three  miles,  exercising  his  mind  at  the  same 

ing5 walk"  time  w't^1  h's  limbs.     If  friends  are  by,  he  discourses  seriously 

with  them ;  if  not,  he  hears  a  book  read  ;  and  so  he  some- 
times does  even  when  friends  are  present,  if  it  be  not  disagree- 
able to  them.  He  then  seats  himself,  and  more  reading 
follows,  or  more  conversation,  which  he  likes  better.  By- 
and-by  he  mounts  his  carriage,  taking  with  him  his  wife,  a 
most  admirable  woman,  or  some  friends — as  myself,  for 
instance,  the  other  day.  What  a  noble,  what  a  charming  tele- 

His  conver-         &-tete  ! — how  much  talk  of  ancient  things  !    what  deeds,  what 

sation.  men  you  hear  of!    what  noble  precepts  you  imbibe,  though 

indeed  he  refrains  from  all  apparent  teaching !  Returning  from 
a  seven-mile  drive,  he  walks  again  one  mile  ;  then  sits  down 

Poetical  or  recnnes  with  a  pen  in  his  hand,  for  he  composes  lyrical 

composition.        pieces  with  elegance  both  in  Greek  and  Latin.      Very  soft,. 


Retirement  from  Active  Life. 


275 


sweet,  and  merry  they  are,  and  their  charm  is  enhanced  by  the 
decorum  of  the  author's  own  habits. 

When  the  hour  of  the  bath  is  announced — that  is,  at  two  in 
summer,  at  three  in  winter — he  strips  and  takes  a  turn  in  the 
sun  if  there  is  no  wind.  Then  he  uses  strong  exercise  for  a 
considerable  space  at  tennis,  for  this  is  the  discipline  with 
which  he  strug- 
gles against  old 
age.  After  the 
bath  he  takes  his 
place  at  the  table, 
but  puts  off  eat- 
ing for  a  time, 
listening  in  the 
meanwhile  to  a 
little  light  and 
pleasant  reading. 
All  this  time  his 
friends  are  free  to 
do  as  he  does,  or 
anything  else 
they  please.  Din- 
ner is  then  served, 
elegant  and  mod- 
erate, on  plain 
but  ancient  silver. 
He  uses  Corinthi- 
an bronzes  too, 
and  admires  them 
without  being 
foolishly  addicted  FALLS  AT  TlBUR  (MoDERN  TIVOLI). 

to  them.  Players  are  often  introduced  between  the  courses, 
that  the  pleasures  of  the  mind  may  give  a  relish  to  those  of  the 
palate.  He  trenches  a  little  on  the  night  even  in  summer  ;  but 
no  one  finds  the  time  tire,  such  are  his  kindness  and  urbanity 
throughout.  Hence  now,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  he  both 
hears  and  sees  perfectly  ;  hence  his  frame  is  active  and  vigor- 
ous ;  he  has  nothing  but  old  age  to  remind  him  to  take  care  of 
himself. 

Such  is  the  mode  of  life  to  which  I  look  forward  for  myself, 
and  on  which  I  will  enter  with  delight  as  soon  as  advancing 


His  bath. 


Exercise. 


Dinner. 


276  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

years  allow  me  to  effect  a  retreat.  Meanwhile  I  am  harassed 
Pliny's  pro-  by  a  thousand  troubles,  in  which  Spurinna  is  my  consolation, 
posed  course.  as  j^  ^as  ever  i3een  my  example.  For  he,  too,  as  long  as  it 
became  him,  discharged  duties,  bore  offices,  governed  provin- 
ces ;  and  great  was  the  labor  by  which  he  earned  his  relaxation. 
I  propose  to  myself  the  same  course  and  the  same  end  ;  and  I 
give  you  my  oath  that  I  will  pursue  it.  If  some  ill-timed  ambi- 
tion should  carry  me  beyond  this  purpose,  produce  this  letter 
against  me,  and  condemn  me  to  repose  whenever  I  can  enjoy 
it  without  being  reproached  for  indolence.  Farewell. 

When  the  philosophers  began  to  preach  retirement, 
they  found  the  ground  already  prepared  for  their 
instructions.  So  the  two  doctrines,  Epicurism  and 
Stoicism,  were  heeded,  when  they  both  counseled  with 
the  same  energy  renouncement  of  worldly  ambition. 
Resignation  and  abstinence  constituted,  according  to 
and'abstlnence  these  philosophies,  the  whole  of  wisdom.  The  philoso- 
pher should  withdraw  from  public  life  and  should  have 
no  other  care  than  to  establish  in  silence  and  calm  the 
peace  of  his  soul.  Ambition,  which  had  formerly  been 
regarded  as  a  noble  passion,  fruitful  of  good  results,  was 
condemned  as  the  source  of  all  evils. 

In  life  [writes  Lucretius]  we  have  a  Sisyphus  before  our  eyes 

The  teaching  J 

of  Lucretius.  who  is  bent  on  asking  from  the  people  the  rods  and  cruel  axes, 
and  always  retires  defeated  and  disappointed.  For  to  ask  for 
power,  which,  empty  as  it  is,  is  never  given,  and  always  in  the 
chase  of  it  to  undergo  severe  toil,  this  is  forcing  up  hill  with 
much  effort  a  stone  which  after  all  rolls  back  again  from  the 
summit  and  seeks  in  headlong  haste  the  levels  of  the  plain. 

And  Seneca,  the  disciple  of  the  Stoic  philosopher 
Cleanthes,  echoes  Lucretius,  the  disciple  of  Epicurus. 
When  he  had  abandoned  his  position  of  power,  when  he 
had  voluntarily  become  poor  and  obscure,  he  says  : 

Seneca's  This  narrow  way  which  I  have  found  so  late,  and  after  so 

warning.  many  wanderings,  I  desire  to  show  to  others.     I  warn  them — 


Retirement  from  Active  Life. 


avoid  what  catches  the  eye  of  the  vulgar,  refuse  the  gifts  of 
chance  ;  when  some  unlooked-for  advantage  is  thrown  in  your 
way,  before  touching  it  pause,  full  of  fear  and  suspicion. 
Think  of  those  allurements  which  are  used  to  attract  and  snare 
animals.  "These  are  the  gifts  of  fortune,"  you  say.  No,  they 
are  her  traps.  If  you  wish  to  live  in  peace,  distrust  these 
deceitful  presents  ;  for  when  you  think  you  have  them,  you 
will  find  that  you  are  caught.  Whoever  allows  himself  to  be 
attracted  by  them  is  fatally  conducted  to  the  abyss  ;  and  a  fall 
is  always  the  sequel  to  great  prosperity. 

These  counsels  were  welcomed  not  only  by  those  who   The  discon- 
were  engaged  in  politics,  but  also  by  that  more  frivolous  peop?e.s°' 
class  of   people   whose   activities   were    merely   social. 
Under  the  influence  of  a  very  refined   civilization  the 
intensity  and  even  the  abundance  of  pleasures  produces 
weariness  and  disgust ;  and  those  souls  which  possess 
some  nobility  are  filled  with  bitterness  and  ennui.      So  it 
was  under  the   Roman  Empire.      People  were  full  of 
desire   without    object    and    of    vague    aspirations,    of 
anxiety  without  cause,  and  of  indefinable  hope,  and  they 
found  a  bitter  enjoyment  in  the  contemplation  of  their 
misery,  and  a  mysterious  pleasure  in  seeking  the  key  of 
the  enigma  which  tormented  them.      Such  was  the  con- 
dition of  that  young  Annaeus  Serenus,  commander  of  Ann£eus 
Nero's  body-guard,  rich,   brilliant,  crowned  apparently  Serenus- 
with  all  the  gifts  of  nature  and  of  fortune.      He  confided 
his  trouble  to  Seneca,  and  sought  advice  as  follows  : 

I  beg  of  you,  if  you  know  any  remedy  for  this  malady,  do 
not  think  that  I  am  unworthy  of  owing  my  peace  of  mind  to 
you.  It  is  not  the  tempest  which  disquiets  me,  it  is  sea- 
sickness. Deliver  me,  then,  from  this  evil,  whatever  it  is,  and 
aid  a  wretch  who  suffers  in  sight  of  the  shore. 

And  Seneca,  who  took  an  interest  in  this  noble  but  Seneca,s  a(ivice 
weak   young  man,    and  sympathized  with    him   in   his   to  Annaeus. 
anguish,  gave  him  much  kind  counsel,  all  of  the  same 


278 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s    Time. 


Melancholy 

becomes 

fashionable. 


The  "poor 

man's 

chamber." 


import.  He  advised  him  to  live  for  himself,  to  seek  a 
retreat  where  he  might  enjoy  that  "  happy  condition  in 
which  the  soul  tastes  an  inalterable  joy,  and  maintains 
itself  in  a  peaceful  state,  free  from  exaltation  or  depres- 
sion." 

We  are  tempted  to  believe  that  melancholy  had 
become  fashionable,  that  it  was  stylish  to  be  disillu- 
sioned and  disap- 
pointed, as  at  the 
commencement  of  our 
century  it  was  common 
to  play  the  part  of 
Werther  or  Ren6,  and 
that  to  treat  this  sup- 
posed malady  with  the 
favorite  remedy  of  the 
philosophers ,  retire- 
ment  from  active  life, 
was  a  proof  of  good 
taste  and  supreme  ele- 
gance. 

In  the  houses  of  the 
wealthy  a  singular  cus- 
tom had  been  estab- 
lished. In  the  midst 
of  all  the  many  far- 
sought  forms  of  lux- 
ury, a  retreat  was  re- 
served called  the  '  'poor 
man'  s  chamber.'  ' 
Here  one  so  disposed 

ROMAN  PRIEST.    Vatican.  •    i  .  r  i 

might  retire  for  a  day 

now  and  then,  to  eat  out  of  earthen  dishes  and  sleep 
upon  a  straw  bed.  Doubtless  this  was  mere  play,  and 


Retirement  from  Active  Life.  279 

perhaps  even  a  last  refinement  of  voluptuousness,  to 
enable  one  to  renew  his  capacity  for  enjoyment  by  the 
contrast  of  a  day' s  privations.  But  can  we  not  see  even 
in  such  fantasies  a  proof  that  the  custom  of  retiring  from 
active  life  was  becoming  more  general  from  day  to  day  ? 
In  reading  Pliny's  letters  we  find  several  examples  of 
rich  and  cultivated  men  who  withdrew  early  from  public 
life,  or  never  allowed  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  it.  Retired  coun- 

s-i  •  r  try  gentlemen. 

One  day  he  met  in  the  country  one  of  these  sensible 
men.  Pliny,  whose  life  had  been  so  easily  successful, 
and  whose  amiable  optimism  had  attached  him  to  the 
world,  was  doubtless  somewhat  astonished  that  any  one 
should  be  willing  to  conceal  himself  from  fame  and  from 
the  eyes  of  men  ;  he  was  obliged,  however,  to  recognize 
the  fact  that  this  taste  for  repose  and  security  had 
become  very  prevalent. 

O  the  numbers  [he  wrote]  of  learned  men  modesty  con- 
ceals, or  love  of  retirement  withdraws  from  public  fame  ! 
And  yet  when  we  are  going  to  speak  or  recite  in  public  it  is  the 
judgment  only  of  professed  critics  we  stand  in  awe  of;  whereas 
those  who  cultivate  learning  quietly  and  to  themselves  have  in 
so  far  a  higher  claim  to  regard  in  that  they  pay  a  tribute  of 
silent  reverence  to  whatever  is  great  in  works  of  genius — an 
observation  which  I  give  you  upon  experience.  Terentius 
Junior,  having  gone  through  the  military  duties  suitable  to  a  junior, 
person  of  equestrian  rank,  and  discharged  with  great  integrity 
the  post  of  receiver-general  of  the  revenues  of  Narbonensian 
Gaul,  retired  to  his  estate,  preferring  the  enjoyment  of  uninter- 
rupted tranquillity  to  those  honors  that  awaited  his  services. 
He  invited  me  lately  to  his  house,  where,  looking  upon  him 
only  as  a  worthy  head  of  a  family  and  an  industrious  farmer,  I 
started  such  topics  as  I  imagined  him  to  be  most  versed  in. 
But  he  soon  turned  the  conversation,  entering  with  considera- 
ble display  of  learning  upon  subjects  of  literature.  With  what  His  unex- 
purity  and  delicacy  did  he  express  himself  in  Latin  and  Greek  !  Cnearniif^  ay 
For  he  is  such  a  master  of  both  that  whichever  he  speaks 
seems  to  be  the  language  he  particularly  excels  in.  How 


280 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


The  best 
scholars  often 
concealed. 


The  poetry 
of  Martial 
and  Statius. 


The  delight  of 
Tacitus  in  the 
calm  of  nature. 


extensive  and  varied  is  his  reading  !  How  tenacious  his  mem- 
ory !  You  would  not  imagine  him  the  inhabitant  of  an  ignorant 
country  village,  but  of  polite  Athens  herself.  In  short,  his 
conversation  has  increased  my  anxiety  about  my  works  and 
taught  me  to  revere  the  judgment  of  these  retired  country  gen- 
tlemen as  much  as  that  of  more  known  and  distinguished 
literati.  Let  me  persuade  you  to  consider  them  in  the  same 
light ;  for,  believe  me,  upon  a  careful  observation,  you  will  find 
that  as  in  the  army  the  best  soldiers,  so  in  literature  the  best 
scholars  are  often  concealed  under  the  most  uncouth  appear- 
ances. Farewell. 

The  poets  of  this  time,  Martial  and  Statius,  were  pre- 
eminently parlor  versifiers.  We  find  in  them  no  note 
which  suggests  the  beautiful  stanza  of  La  Fontaine  : 

Ah,  country  fields,  in  me  a  secret  pain 
Is  wakened  by  your  solitude  and  calm. 

Your  cool  and  shade  to  weary  heart  and  brain 
Are  like  a  fragrant  balm. 

And  yet  it  is  probable  that  many  of  the  poets  dreamed 
of  a  peaceful  asylum,  a  retreat  sacred  to  the  Muses. 
Was  not  Tacitus  expressing  a  poet's  sentiment  when  he 
wrote  this  beautiful  passage  in  his  ' '  Dialogue  on 
Oratory"  ? 

As  to  the  woods  and  groves  and  that  retirement  which  Aper 
denounced,  they  bring  such  delight  to  me  that  I  count  among 
the  chief  enjoyments  of  poetry  the  fact  that  it  is  composed  not 
in  the  midst  of  bustle,  or  with  a  suitor  sitting  before  one's  door, 
or  amid  the  wretchedness  and  tears  of  prisoners,  but  that  the 
soul  withdraws  herself  to  abodes  of  purity  and  innocence  and 
enjoys  her  holy  resting-place.  .  .  .  For  myself,  as  Virgil 
says,  let  "  the  sweet  Muses  "  lead  me  to  their  sacred  retreats, 
and  to  their  fountains  far  away  from  anxieties  and  cares,  and 
the  necessity  of  doing  every  day  something  repugnant  to  my 
heart.  Let  me  no  longer  tremblingly  experience  the  madness 
and  perils  of  the  forum,  and  the  pallors  of  fame.  Let  me  not 
be  aroused  by  a  tumult  of  morning  visitors,  or  a  freedman's 
panting  haste,  or,  anxious  about  the  future,  have  to  make  a 


Retirement  from  Active  Life, 


281 


The  tribulations 
of  authors. 


will  to  secure  my  wealth.  Let  me  not  possess  more  than  what 
I  can  leave  to  whom  I  please,  whenever  the  day  appointed  by 
my  own  fates  shall  come  ;  and  let  the  statue  over  my  tomb  b.e 
not  gloomy  and  scowling,  but  bright  and  laurel-crowned. 

But  even  the  poets  who   had  no   natural  liking  for 
retirement  were  sure  sooner  or  later  to  feel  the  need  of 
it.     At  this  age  of  the  empire  literary  life  was  very  bur- 
densome.    The  public  had  become  as  difficult  to  please 
as  a  sultan  weary  of  life.      It  demanded  to  be  served 
with  dishes  always  new  and  appetizing.     The  optimates 
who   played   the   part  of    Maecenases  only   patronized 
those  writers  whom  they  found  compliant  and  obedient 
to  their  whims.     What 
man  ever  exhibited 
more  subserviency 
than   Statius  ?      What 
constantly    enforced 
restraint  saddened  the 
life  of  this  beggar-poet ! 

Furthermore,  rival- 
ries were  singularly 
active.  Authors  at- 
tacked each  other  un- 
mercifully ;  they  tore 
each  other  to  pieces. 
How,  living  in  such  an 
atmosphere,  could  one 

fail  to  experience  weariness  at  first,  and  soon  exhaustion  ? 
Those  who  were  able,  therefore,  escaped  from  this 
misery  ;  they  went,  as  Juvenal  says,  to  find  in  the  coun-  to  find  reP°se- 
try  "some  lizard's  hole"  where  they  might  vegetate. 
Even  Martial,  whose  tastes  were  never  rural,  whose 
poetry  seldom  expresses  love  of  the  country  or  of  sol- 
itude, went  to  Spain,  and,  in  the  little  village  of  Bilbilis, 


ALTAR  AT  OSTIA. 


Their  attempts 


282  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

tried  to  rest  from  the  artificial  life  he  had  led  at  Rome. 
In  the  following  epigram  he  describes  his  experience  : 

Whilst  you,  my  Juvenal,  are  perhaps  wandering  restless  in 
the  noisy  Subura,  or  pacing  the  hill  of  the  goddess  Diana, 
whilst  your  toga,  in  which  you  perspire  at  the  thresholds  of 
your  influential  friends,  is  fanning  you  as  you  go,  and  the 
greater  and  lesser  Cselian  Hills  fatigue  you  in  your  wanderings, 
my  own  Bilbilis,  revisited  after  many  winters,  has  received  me, 
and  made  me  a  country  gentleman — Bilbilis,  proud  of  its  gold 
and  its  iron  !  Here  we  indolently  cultivate  with  agreeable 
labor  Boterduna  and  Platea  ;  these  are  the  somewhat  rude 
names  of  Celtiberian  localities.  I  enjoy  profound  and  extraor- 
Martial  in  dinary  sleep,  which  is  frequently  unbroken,  even  at  nine  in  the 

the  country.  morning  ;  and  I  am  now  indemnifying  myself  fully  for  all  the 
interruptions  to  sleep  that  I  endured  for  thirty  years.  The 
toga  here  is  unknown,  but  the  nearest  dress  is  given  me,  when 
I  ask  for  it,  from  an  old  press.  When  I  rise,  a  hearth  heaped 
up  with  faggots  from  a  neighboring  oak  grove  welcomes  me  ;  a 
hearth  which  the  bailiff's  wife  crowns  with  many  a  pot.  Then 
comes  the  housemaid,  such  a  one  as  you  would  envy  me.  A 
close-shorn  bailiff  issues  the  orders  to  my  boy  attendants,  and 
begs  that  they  may  be  obliged  to  lay  aside  their  long  hair  [in 
order  to  be  ranked  among  full-grown  men,  and  do  men's 
work].  Thus  I  delight  to  live,  and  thus  I  hope  to  die. 

We  must  admit  that  this  enthusiasm  did  not  last  long. 
The  poet  soon  conceived  a  dislike  for  the  stupid  provin- 
cials. He  longed  for  Rome  and  thus  confessed  it  to  his 
friend  Priscus  : 

I  know  that  I  owe  some  apology  for  my  obstinate  three 
years'  indolence ;  though,  indeed,  it  could  by  no  apology 
have  been  excused,  even  amid  the  engagements  of  the 
city,  engagements  in  which  we  more  easily  succeed  in  mak- 
ing ourselves  appear  troublesome  than  serviceable  to  our 
friends  ;  and  much  less  is  it  defensible  in  this  country  solitude, 
where,  unless  a  person  studies  even  to  excess,  his  retreat  is  at 
once  without  consolation  and  without  excuse.  Listen,  then,  to 

His  longing  _  ' 

for  Rome.  my  reasons  ;  among  which  the  first  and  principal  is  this,  that  I 

miss  the  audience  to  which  I  had  grown  accustomed  at  Rome, 


Retirement  from  Active  Life. 


283 


JMAN  PRIVATE  HOUSE. 


and  seem  like  an  advocate  pleading  in  a  strange  court ;  for  if 
there  be  anything  pleasing  in  my  books  it  is  due  to  my  audi- 
tors.    That  penetration  of  judgment,  that  fertility  of  invention, 
the  libraries,  the  theaters,  the  social  meetings,  in  which  pleas- 
ure does  not  perceive  that  it  is  studying — everything,  in  a  word, 
which  we  left  behind  us  in  satiety,  we  regret  as  though  utterly 
deserted.       Add 
to  this  the  back- 
biting of  the  pro- 
vincials,  envy 
usurping     the 
place  of  criticism, 
and  one   or   two 
ill-disposed  per- 
sons,   who,   in    a 
small  society,  are 
a  host — c  i  r  c  u  m  - 
stances  under 
which   it  is  diffi- 
cult to  be  always 

in  the  best  of  humors.  Do  not  wonder,  then,  that  I  have 
abandoned  in  disgust  occupations  in  which  I  used  to  employ 
myself  with  delight. 

Martial  was  not  fitted  to  be  happy  as  a  citizen  of  a  small 
town,  that  is  certain.  Nevertheless  he  also,  in  his  turn, 
felt  the  need  of  retiring. 

Various  were  the  reasons  which  led  people  to  live  in  various  reasons 
retirement.  Many  a  man  who  did  not  have  to  fear 
political  reverses,  whose  heart  was  free  from  sorrow, 
who  was  satisfied  with  an  obscure  career,  and  aspired 
to  nothing  more  brilliant,  went  away  to  live  forgotten 
and  forgetful  in  some  corner.  Some  yielded  to  the 
desire  for  an  easy  existence  without  care  and  without 
business ;  others,  ruined,  did  not  wish  to  exhibit  the 
spectacle  of  their  misery  ;  many  whom  sickness  ren- 
dered incapable  of  work  and  unfit  to  enjoy  pleasures 
sought  to  obtain  a  cure,  or  at  least  to  learn  patience, 


for  retirement 
from  active  life. 


284  Roman  Life  in  Pliny '  s   Time. 

from  solitude.     This  last  class  was  the  most  numerous. 

Beginning  from  the  empire,  sickness  plays  an  impor- 
tant part  in  social  life.  Excesses  of  all  sorts,  the  over- 
Sickness.  crowding  of  the  population  which  was  constantly 

increasing  at  Rome,  the  changes  introduced  in  the  mat- 
ter of  food,  and  bad  hygienic  habits  were  certainly 
enough  to  injure  the  public  health.  Perhaps,  also, 
people  had  become  less  brave  in  the  endurance  of  ill- 
ness and  more  wrapped  up  in  themselves.  At  any  rate, 
infirmities  to  which  the  men  of  a  previous  generation 
seemed  to  pay  no  attention,  which  did  not  interrupt 
their  activity  until  their  strength  gave  way  completely, 
exercised,  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing,  an 
important  influence  upon  the  career  of  a  Roman. 

The  increase  of  ill-health  resulted  in  (was  caused  by, 
perhaps  some  cynics  would  say)  the  multiplication  of 
physicians. 

Medicine  was  a  science  of  late  development  at  Rome. 

The  develop-  .    .  * 

mentofthe         The  earlier  physicians  were    usually  Greek  ;  very  few 

science  of  med- 

icine.  were  Roman.      They  made   money  fast,  but  were  not 

held  in  high  esteem.  Pliny  the  Naturalist  has  expressed 
his  complaints  against  the  physicians  of  his  time  in  the 
following  interesting  passage,  which  Moliere  must  have 
read  : 

Medicine  is  the  only  art  which  the  Romans  will  not  consent 
de^s  o1  hifdn  to  Pracuce>  m  spite  of  all  the  profit  that  it  yields.  Besides, 
of  physicians.  those  who  cannot  speak  Greek  have  no  prestige,  not  even  with 
those  who  do  not  understand  this  language.  Patients  have  less 
faith  in  prescriptions  when  they  understand  them.  So  physi- 
cians enjoy  the  privilege  of  being  believed  on  their  mere  word, 
when  they  claim  that  they  are  qualified  in  their  profession,  and 
yet  there  is  no  case  in  which  misrepresentation  is  more  dan- 
gerous. .  .  .  Furthermore,  there  is  no  law  to  punish  their 
ignorance  ;  we  have  not  an  example  of  a  physician  who  has 
suffered  capital  punishment  for  his  mistakes.  It  is  at  our  risk 


Retirement  from  Active  Life. 


285 


Pliny's  faitli 
in  doctors. 


and  peril  that  they  learn  their  business,  and  it  is  in  killing  us 
that  they  acquire  experience.  No  one  but  a  physician  can  kill 
a  man  with  impunity  ;  moreover,  the  reproach  does  not  rest 
upon  the  physician  ;  people  accuse  the  intemperance  of  the 
patient,  and  the  dead  are  always  to  blame.  .  .  .  As  avari- 
cious as  they  are  ignorant,  the  physicians  will  dispute  about  the 
price  of  their  visits  at  the  bed  of 
the  dying  patient. 

Yet  Pliny  the  Elder  did 
not  succeed  in  inspiring  his 
nephew  with  his  horror  of 
physicians  and  their  art. 
When  Pliny  the  Younger  was 
ill,  he  observed  carefully  the 
directions  of  the  doctors  and 
was  patient  and  docile,  and, 
when  restored  to  health,  he 
did  not  find  fault  with  those 
who  had  cured  him.  On  the 
contrary,  he  advises  his 
friends  to  make  it  easy,  by 
their  confiding  submission,  for 
the  physicians  to  perform 
their  task.  Read  the  follow- 
ing letter  of  Pliny's  : 

This  obstinate  illness  of  yours 
alarms  me  ;  and  though  I  know 
how    extremely    temperate    you 
are,  yet  I  fear  lest  your  disease 
should  get    the   better    of  your 
moderation.     Let  me  entreat  you,  then,  to  resist  it  with  a  de- 
termined abstemiousness — a  remedy,  be  assured,  of  all  others    His  advke 
the  most  laudable  as   well  as  the  most   salutary.      Human   to  a  friend, 
nature  itself  admits  the  practicability  of  what  I  recommend  ;  it 
is  a  rule  at  least  which  I  always  enjoin  my  family  to  observe 
with  respect  to  myself.     "  I  hope,"  I  say  to  them,  "  that  should 
I  be  attacked  with  any  disorder,  I  shall  desire  nothing  of  which 


AESCULAPIUS.    Museum  of  Naples. 


286  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's    Time. 

I  ought  either  to  be  ashamed  or  have  reason  to  repent ;  how- 
ever, if  my  distemper  should  prevail  over  my  resolution,  I 
forbid  that  anything  be  given  me  but  by  the  consent  of  my 
physicians ;  and  I  shall  resent  your  compliance  with  me  in 
things  improper  as  much  as  another  man  would  their  refusal." 
I  once  had  a  most  violent  fever ;  when  the  fit  was  a  little 
abated  and  I  had  been  anointed,  my  physician  offered  me 
something  to  drink  ;  I  held  out  my  hand,  desiring  he  would 
first  feel  my  pulse,  and  upon  his  not  seeming  quite  satisfied,  I 

for"t>ie  ph^sl-       instantly  returned  the  cup,   though  it  was  just  at  my  lips. 

cians'  opinion.  Afterward,  when  I  was  preparing  to  go  into  the  bath,  twenty 
days  from  the  first  attack  of  my  illness,  perceiving  the  physi- 
cians whispering  together,  I  inquired  what  they  were  saying. 
They  replied  they  were  of  opinion  I  may  possibly  bathe  with 
safety,  however  that  they  were  not  without  some  suspicion  of 
risk.  "What  need  is  there,"  said  I,  "of  my  taking  a  bath  at 
all?"  And  so,  with  perfect  calmness  and  tranquillity,  I  gave 
up  a  pleasure  I  was  upon  the  point  of  enjoying,  and  abstained 
from  the  bath  as  serenely  and  composedly  as  though  I  were 
going  into  it.  I  mention  this,  not  only  by  way  of  enforcing  my 
advice  by  example,  but  also  that  this  letter  may  be  a  sort  of  tie 
upon  me  to  persevere  in  the  same  resolute  abstinence  for  the 
future.  Farewell. 

We  must  suppose  that  Pliny,  whose  views  usually 
coincide  with  those  of  the  majority  of  his  contempora- 
ries, expressed  upon  physicians  the  prevailing  opinion 
of  his  epoch. 

But  often,  in  spite  of  the  good-will  of  the  patient,  his 
s^metfmes  malady  baffled  the  physician  ;  often  recourse  was  had  in 
vain  to  all  the  known  treatments,  cold  baths  prescribed 
by  Charmis,  warm  baths  ordered  by  ^sculapius, 
regime  of  wine  recommended  by  Cleophantus,  or 
regime  of  water  advised  by  Antonius  Musa  ;  in  vain 
were  the  drug  stores  spoiled  of  their  medicines  ;  the 
malady  was  obstinate  and  refused  to  yield.  Some 
patients,  under  such  circumstances,  were  hopeful  and 
refused  to  give  up.  Others  were  resigned  to  the  inevi- 


Retirement  from  Active  Life.  287 

table  and  tried  to  see  the  bright  side  of  their  fate.  It  is 
for  such  that  Pliny  wrote  this  charming  letter,  which 
might  be  entitled  ' '  The  Eulogy  of  Sickness ' '  : 

The  lingering  disorder  of  a  friend  of  mine  gave  me  occasion 
lately  to  reflect  that  we  are  never  so  good  as  when  oppressed  of'sJckness  1"Sy 
with  illness.  Where  is  the  sick  man  who  is  either  solicited  by 
avarice  or  inflamed  with  lust  ?  At  such  a  season  he  is  neither 
a  slave  of  love  nor  the  fool  of  ambition  ;  wealth  he  utterly  dis- 
regards, and  is  content  with  ever  so  small  a  portion  of  it,  as 
being  upon  the  point  of  leaving  even  that  little.  It  is  then  he 
recollects  there  are  gods  and  that  he  himself  is  but  a  man  ;  no 
mortal  is  then  the  object  of  his  envy,  his  admiration,  or  his 
contempt  ;  and  the  tales  of  slander  neither  raise  his  attention 
nor  feed  his  curiosity ;  his  dreams  are  only  of  baths  and 
fountains.  These  are  the  supreme  objects  of  his  cares  and 
wishes,  while  he  resolves,  if  he  should  recover,  to  pass  the 
remainder  of  his  days  in  ease  and  tranquillity,  that  is,  to  live 
innocently  and  happily.  I  may  therefore  lay  down  to  you  and 
myself  a  short  rule,  which  the  philosophers  have  endeavored  to 
inculcate  at  the  expense  of  many  words,  and  even  many 
volumes  ;  that  ' '  we  should  try  to  realize  in  health  those  res- 
olutions we  form  in  sickness."  Farewell. 

Excellent  words,  and  helpful  to  those  whose  suffer- 
ings are  not  too  sharp  ;  but  to  those  unfortunate  inva-  ope  * 
lids  bound  to  a  bed  of  pain,  for  whom  the  future  held 
no  prospect  but  a  series  of  agonies,  what  comfort  could 
such  words  bring?  None,  assuredly  ;  in  such  hopeless 
cases,  where  all  the  known  remedies  had  been  tried  and 
had  failed,  the  last  recourse  was  to  that  infallible  and 
supreme  remedy,  death. 

Atticus,  who  had  been  sick  for  a  long  while,  sent  for  Atticus. 
his   son-in-law   Agrippa,   and  his   friends  L.  Cornelius 
Balbus   and  Sextus  Peducceus.     When  they  arrived,  he 
spoke  to  them  as  follows  : 

There  is  no  need  of  my  reminding  you  what  care  I  have 
taken  to  restore  my  health,  for  you  know  already.     Since  then 


288  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

I  have  done  my  best  to  preserve  myself  for  you  ;  it  remains  for 
me  now  to  think  of  myself.  I  wished  to  let  you  know.  Yes,  I 
am  going  to  cease  nourishing  my  malady.  For  all  the  food 
that  I  have  taken  these  last  few  days  has  only  prolonged  my 
life  to  increase  my  pain.  I  beg  of  you,  then,  to  approve  of  my 
resolution  and  do  nothing  to  shake  it. 

They  implored  him  to  change  his  purpose,  but  he  would 
not  listen  to  them  ;  he  refused  to  take  any  nourishment 
and  died  after  two  days. 

silius  itaikus.  The  poet  Silius  Italicus,  who,  after  having  been  an 
informer  under  Nero,  had  succeeded  in  winning  back 
public  esteem,  and  in  his  villa  at  Naples  was  leading  a 
quiet  life,  surrounded  by  affection  and  respect,  suffered 
from  an  incurable  abscess  ;  he  did  not  hesitate  to  com- 
mit suicide. 

Coreiiius  Rufus.  Corellius  Rufus  chose  the  same  method  of  putting  an 
end  to  his  malady.  Let  Pliny  relate  to  us  the  sad  cir- 
cumstances : 

I  have  suffered  the  heaviest  loss  ;  if  that  word  be  sufficiently 
strong  to  express  the  misfortune  which  has  deprived  me  of  so 
excellent  a  man.  Corellius  Rufus  is  dead  ;  and  dead,  too,  by 
his  own  act.  A  circumstance  of  great  aggravation  to  my 
affliction  ;  as  that  sort  of  death  which  we  cannot  impute  either 
to  the  course  of  nature,  or  the  hand  of  Providence,  is,  of  all 
others,  the  most  to  be  lamented.  It  affords  some  consolation 
in  the  loss  of  those  friends  whom  disease  snatches  from  us  that 
they  fall  by  the  general  destiny  of  mankind  ;  but  those  who 
destroy  themselves  leave  us  under  the  inconsolable  reflection 
that  they  had  it  in  their  power  to  have  lived  longer.  It  is  true, 
His  induce-  Corellius  had  many  inducements  to  be  fond  of  life  ;  a  blame- 
ments  to  live.  less  conscience,  high  reputation,  and  great  dignity  of  character, 
besides  a  daughter,  a  wife,  a  grandson,  and  sisters  ;  and, 
amidst  these  numerous  pledges  of  happiness,  faithful  friends. 
Still,  it  must  be  owned  he  had  the  highest  motive  (which  to  a 
wise  man  will  always  have  the  force  of  destiny)  urging  him  to 
this  resolution.  He  had  long  been  tortured  by  so  tedious  and 
painful  a  complaint  that  even  these  inducements  to  living  on, 


Retirement  from  Active  Life.  289 

considerable  as  they  are,  were  overbalanced  by  the  reasons  on 
the  other  side.  • 

In  his  thirty-third  year  (as  I  have  frequently  heard  him  say) 
he  was  seized  with  the  gout  in  his  feet.  This  was  hereditary  ; 
for  diseases,  as  well  as  possessions,  are  sometimes  handed 
down  by  a  sort  of  inheritance.  A  life  of  sobriety  and  con- 
tinence had  enabled  him  to  conquer  and  keep  down  the  dis- 
ease while  he  was  still  young ;  latterly,  as  it  grew  upon  him 
with  advancing  years,  he  had  to  bear  it  manfully,  suffering 
meanwhile  the  most  incredible  and  undeserved  agonies  ;  for  the 
gout  was  now  not  only  in  his  feet,  but  had  spread  itself  over 
his  whole  body.  I  remember,  in  Domitian's  reign,  paying  piiny's  visit 
him  a  visit  at  his  villa,  near  Rome.  As  soon  as  I  entered  his  to  Rufus- 
chamber,  his  servants  went  out ;  for  it  was  his  rule  never  to 
allow  them  to  be  in  the  room  when  any  intimate  friend  was 
with  him  ;  nay,  even  his  own  wife,  though  she  could  have  kept 
any  secret,  used  to  go  too.  Casting  his  eyes  round  the  room, 
"Why,"  he  exclaimed,  "  do  you  suppose  I  endure  life  so  long 
under  these  cruel  agonies  ?  It  is  with  the  hope  that  I  may  out-  outliving  a 
live,  at  least  for  one  day,  that  villain."  tyrant. 

Had  his  bodily  strength  been  equal  to  his  resolution,  he 
would  have  carried  his  desire  into  practical  effect.  God  heard 
and  answered  his  prayer  ;  and  when  he  felt  that  he  should  now 
die  a  free,  unenslaved  Roman,  he  broke  through  those  other 
great,  but  now  less  forcible,  attachments  to  the  world.  His 
malady  increased  ;  and,  as  it  now  grew  too  violent  to  admit  of 
any  relief  from  temperance,  he  resolutely  determined  to  put  an 
end  to  its  uninterrupted  attacks,  by  an  effort  of  heroism.  He 
had  refused  all  sustenance  during  four  days,  when  his  wife 
Hispulla  sent  our  common  friend  Geminius  to  me,  with  the  The  resolution 
melancholy  news  that  Corellius  was  resolved  to  die  ;  and  that 
neither  her  own  entreaties  nor  her  daughter's  could  move  him 
from  his  purpose  ;  I  was  the  only  person  left  who  could  recon- 
cile him  to  life.  I  ran  to  his  house  with  the  utmost  precipita- 
tion. As  I  approached  it,  I  met  a  second  messenger  from 
Hispulla,  Julius  Atticus,  who  informed  me  there  was  nothing  to 
be  hoped  for  now,  even  from  me,  as  he  seemed  more  hardened 
than  ever  in  his  purpose.  He  had  said,  indeed,  to  his  physician, 
who  pressed  him  to  take  some  nourishment,  "  'Tis  resolved," 
an  expression  which,  as  it  raised  my  admiration  of  the  great- 
ness of  his  soul,  so  it  does  my  grief  for  the  loss  of  him. 


290 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


Titius  Aristo. 


Death  robbed 
of  its  terrors  by 
the  teachings 
of  philosophy. 


And  no  one  thought  of  blaming  such  conduct.  Titius 
Aristo,  being  seriously  ill,  begged  his  friends  to  find  out 
from  the  physicians  whether  there  was  any  hope  for 
him.  He  thought  he  owed  it  to  his  friends  to  neglect 
no  means  of  saving  himself ;  but  if  recovery  was  impos- 
sible, he  was  resolved  to  take  his  own  life. 


TOMB  AT  POMPEII. 

This  [says  Pliny]  I  consider  more  than  usually  difficult  and 
praiseworthy.  For  to  rush  upon  death  with  impetuosity  and 
ardor  is  common  to  many  ;  but  to  deliberate  about  it,  and  dis- 
cuss the  arguments  for  it  and  against  it,  and  live  and  die  accord- 
ingly, is  worthy  of  a  great  mind. 

What  must  we  conclude  from  these  examples,  chosen 
from  thousands,  if  not  that  death,  for  the  men  of  this 
age,  was  not  so  terrible  as  it  appears  to  many  in  the 
present  time  ? 

The  two  great  systems  of  philosophy,  which  attempted 


Retirement  from  Active  Life.  291 

to  teach  the  ancients  concerning  the  fate  of  the  soul 
after  death,  offered  them  no  consolation  perhaps,  but  on 
the  other  hand  suggested  no  horrible  possibilities. 

Epicurism  affirmed  boldly  that  there  was  no  future  Epicurism, 
life.  Natural  law  gives  us  birth,  natural  law  causes  us 
to  die.  It  has  drawn  us  out  of  nothing  and  it  sends  us 
back  to  nothing.  After  having  loved  and  suffered,  we 
shall  cease  to  love  and  suffer.  We  shall  return  to  mix 
with  the  elements  which  have  given  us  life,  and  shall 
thus  in  our  turn  give  life  to  other  beings  ;  we  shall 
become  mere  chemical  ingredients  in  the  great  labora- 
tory of  nature. 

Death  [says  Lucretius]  does  not  extinguish  things  in  such  a 
way  as  to  destroy  the  bodies  of  matter,  but  only  breaks  up  the 
union  amongst  them,  and  then  joins  anew  the  different  elements 
with  others. 

As  to  the  Stoics,  they  do  not  deny  absolutely  the  Stoicism 
immortality  of  the  soul,  but  they  do  not  believe  in  the 
persistence  of  personality.     According  to  them,  when 
the  human  being  dies,  the  soul  is  absorbed  into  the  uni- 
versal soul. 

But  why  was  it  that  these  Romans,  so  unconcerned 
about  the  future  after  death,  placed  so  much  importance 
upon  their  funerals  and  their  burials  ? 

In  the  earliest  times  the  Romans  believed  that  a  rem- 

Importance 

nant  of  life  persisted  beyond  the  tomb,  that  the  body  attached  to 

J     funeral  rites. 

and  the  soul  were  still  capable  of  suffering,  and  that  the 
withholding  of  certain  funeral  rites  might  result  in 
eternal  woe  to  the  dead.  This  general  belief  became 
later  a  superstition  from  which  even  those  who  made  a 
profession  of  Epicurism  were  not  free.  The  poet 
Lucretius,  with  passionate  irony,  protested  against  such 
inconsistency  : 
When  you  see  a  man  bemoaning  his  hard  case,  that  after 


292  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

death  he  shall  either  rot  with  his  body  laid  in  the  grave  or  be 

The  protest         devoured  by  flames  or  the  jaws  of  wild  beasts,  you  may  be 

of  Lucretius.        sure'  that  his   ring  betrays  a  flaw  and  that  there  lurks  in  his 

heart  a  secret  goad,  though  he  himself  declare  that  he  does  not 

believe  that  any  sense  will  remain  to  him  after  death.     He  does 

not,  methinks,  really  grant  the  conclusion  which  he  professes 

to  grant  nor  the  principle  on  which  he  so  professes,  nor  does 

he  take  and  force  himself  root  and  branch  out  of  life,  but  all 

unconsciously  imagines  something  of  self  to  survive. 

But  in  the  time  of  the  Antonines,  this  superstition  had 

The  formality  of  r 

funeral  rites.  disappeared  among  cultivated  men.  Yet  the  formality 
of  funeral  rites  was  by  no  means  diminished,  and  in  this 
there  is  nothing  surprising.  Those  who  desired  that 
funeral  honors  should  be  paid  to  them  were  not  influ- 
enced by  religious  faith  ;  they  were  simply  conforming 
to  custom.  The  ancient  religion  no  longer  existed 
except  in  its  forms  ;  but  the  Romans,  who  were  a 
formalistic  people,  would  have  been  shocked  at  the  idea 
of  abandoning  time-honored  ceremonies. 

Arrived  at  the  end  of  our  task,  it  only  remains  for  us 
to  accompany  to  their  final  resting-place  these  Romans 
whose  daily  life  we  have  attempted  to  follow. 

When  some  member  of  a  family  was  on  the  point  of 

Preparations  .  111-  1111- 

for  burial.  death  the  nearest  relative  stood  by  him  and  closed  his 

eyes.  Then  as  soon  as  life  was  extinct  those  who  sur- 
rounded his  bed  called  upon  him  several  times  by  his 
name,  crying  loudly  vale  (adieu).  His  body,  washed  and 
anointed,  was  laid,  dressed  in  a  white  toga,  upon  a  couch 
in  the  atrium,  the  feet  turned  toward  the  street.  A  branch 
of  cypress  was  placed  outside  the  door  of  the  house,  to 
warn  the  pontifex  maximus,  who  would  incur  pollution 
by  entering  where  a  dead  body  lay.  At  the  same  time 
notice  of  the  death  was  sent  to  the  Temple  of  Libitina, 
the  goddess  of  corpses  and  funerals,  and  the  Libitinarii 
(undertakers)  came  to  take  charge  of  the  funeral. 


Retirement  from  Active  Life.  293 

Among  the  wealthy  and  those  of  rank  the  obsequies 
were  performed  with  much  pomp.  The  atrium  was 
filled  with  visitors,  the  men  wearing  the  pcenula  (a 
traveling  cloak)  and  the  women  the  ricinium  (a  sort  of 
mantle  with  a  hood  attached  to  it).  Hired  female 
mourners  were  present  to  sing  dirges  over  the  dead. 
The  procession  was  marshaled  by  the  master  of  ceremo- 
nies, the  designator.  First  came  the  musicians,  then  The  funeral 

procession. 

the  hired  mourners,  next  dancers  and  mimi.  The 
arch  imimus 
imitated  the  ap- 
pearance, bear- 
ing, and  lan- 
guage of  the 
deceased.  Next 
in  order  were 
men  who  repre- 
sented the  dead 
man's  ances  - 
tors  ;  they  wore 
as  masks  the 
imagines  (im- 
ages) of  the  an- 
cestors, and 
were  dressed  in 
their  official 
costume.  These 
mock  ancestors 

rode        UDOll  COLUMBARIUM  AT  ROME. 

chariots  and  were  followed   by  the  body.     The  proces- 
sion was  closed  by  friends  and  relatives.     When    the   Atthe 
funeral  pyre  was  reached,  which  was  required  by  law  to 
be  sixty  feet  from   any   building,   the  bier  was  placed 
upon  it,  and  the  procession  moved  solemnly  around  it, 


294 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


Thepuri- 
ficatioa. 


A  poor  man's 
funeral. 


the  faces  turned  toward  the  east,  and  the  friends  of  the 
dead  threw  offerings  upon  the  pyre,  perfumes,  and 
tokens  of  love.  After  this  gladiators  fought  to  the 
death  ;  and  when  the  combat  was  finished  for  want  of 
combatants,  the  son  or  nearest  relative,  with  averted 
face,  applied  a  torch  to  the  pyre.  The  bones  and  ashes 
were  gathered  into  a  brass  urn,  to  be  placed  in  the 
family  sepulcher.  Finally,  the  designator  purified  those 
present  by  a  sprinkling  of  pure  water,  and  pronounced 
the  sacramental  words,  ' '  You  may  go. ' ' 

A  poor  man's  funeral  was  much  simpler.  There  were 
no  hired  mourners,  no  master  of  ceremonies,  no  dirges, 
no  magnificent  funeral  pyre.  His  body  was  inclosed  in 
a  sort  of  coffin,  and  was  carried  to  the  public  subterra- 
nean burial-place  near  the  Esquiline  Hill,  called  the 
grave-pits  {putiadce} .  Nothing  indicated  the  place 
where  he  took  his  eternal  sleep  ;  he  could  not,  like  the 
rich  entombed  along  the  Flaminian  Way,  receive  the 
blessings  of  the  passers-by,  whose  attention  was  invited 
by  such  inscriptions  as  "Stop,  traveler,"  or  "Look, 
traveler. ' ' 

But  beginning  with  the  first  century  of  the  Christian 
era,  societies  were  formed  among  the  poor,  with  the 
object  of  giving  to  their  members  a  suitable  burial. 
Those  who,  by  paying  the  required  dues,  joined  a  society 
of  this  sort  had  the  assurance  that  instead  of  being 
buried  after  death  in  public  ground,  their  ashes  would 
be  placed  in  the  columbarium  (a  chamber  with  niches 
for  receiving  urns  of  ashes)  where  their  associates 
reposed. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
PLINY'S  CORRESPONDENCE. 
PLINY  THE  YOUNGER  is  the  author  whom  we  have 

e  ,     .          ,  Why  is  Pliny* 

oitenest  quoted  m  the    course  of  this  work.     Let  us  testimony 

,    .          ,  .  .  .    .  ,  .  .  valuable? 

explain  why  we  have  given  such  weight  to  his  testimony 
upon  the  private  life  of  his  contemporaries. 

In  the  first  place,  what  opportunity  had  Pliny  for 
knowing  the  truth  in  this  interesting  matter  ?  Let  us 
consider  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed,  his 
social  relations,  and  his  character. 

We  learn  from  an  inscription  that  has  been  preserved 
for  us  that  Pliny  occupied  in  succession  all  the  magistra- 
cies from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  that  he  held  one  after 
another,  in  regular  order,  all  the  military,  financial,  and 
political  offices,  beginning  his  career  as  superintendent 
of  the  public  road  work  in  Rome,  and  finally  attaining 
the  administration  of  a  great  province,  Bithynia.  His  active 
Whatever  love  Pliny  may  profess  for  literature,  he  was  p 
not  merely  a  man  of  the  school  and  the  study.  He 
mixed  in  public  affairs  ;  he  did  not  depend  upon  books 
for  his  knowledge  of  life  ;  he  was  not  without  experience 
of  the  world.  We  cannot  deny  that  he  loved  a  studious 
retreat,  a  calm  life,  occupied  mostly  with  intellectual 
pleasures  ;  but  we  must  recognize  the  fact  that  he  was 
compelled  to  live  a  practical  life,  that  he  could  not  give 
all  his  days  to  poetry  and  eloquence,  and  that  he  did  not 
view  his  contemporaries  only  from  the  platform  of  the 
lecture  hall. 

He  had  among  his  friends  Silius  Italicus,  Martial,  and 
295 


296  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 


many  other  poets  and  men  of  letters,  whose  names  alone 
ofhhishfriTndsr  survive  to-day,  and  of  whom,  as  he  tells  us,  there  were 
many  in  his  time.  But  let  us  not  suppose  that  his  social 
relations  were  limited  to  this  narrow  circle  of  literary 
men.  He  associated  also  with  statesmen  and  men  of 
the  world  ;  they  were  his  peers  ;  with  them  he  was  in 
his  natural  element.  In  spite  of  his  devotion  to  the 
Muses,  he  perhaps  even  thought  he  was  lowering  him- 
self when  he  sought  the  companionship  of  Martial,  that 
needy  poet,  and  of  his  other  friends  or  rivals  who  led 
what  we  might  call  to-day  abohemian  life. 

But  Pliny  was  perfectly  at  home  with  his  friend 
Spurinna,  that  wise  old  man  who  knew  well  how  to  live 
and  better  how  to  die  ;  or  again  with  Virginius  Rufus,  a 
truly  noble  soul,  who  under  Nero  had  refused  the 
empire  offered  him  by  his  legions,  and  who,  by  a  glori- 
ous anachronism,  made  the  manners  of  the  republic 
flourish  again  under  the  empire.  These  great  person- 
ages had  witnessed  the  dawn  of  Caesarism  ;  like  all  aged 
people,  they  loved  to  recall  the  past  and  to  dwell  upon 
their  reminiscences  ;  and  they  often  drew,  for  those  who 
were  wise  enough  to  listen,  useful  comparisons  between 
the  former  time  and  the  present  time.  Must  not  Pliny 
have  profited  by  his  acquaintance  with  them  ?  Junius 
A  few  of  piinv's  Mauricus,  the  brother  of  Rusticus  Arulenus,  a  heroic 
fdends"13  outlaw,  CorelHus  Rufus,  who  had  experienced  the 

tyranny  of  Domitian,  and  who  in  spite  of  his  calamities 
did  not  wish  for  death,  because  he  wanted  to  survive  the 
monster  Domitian,  Erucius  Clarus,  advocate  eloquent 
and  skilful,  honoring  his  profession  by  his  honesty,  his 
courage,  and  his  modesty,  Titius  Aristo,  an  eminent 
scholar,  Maximus,  a  literary  optimate,  governor  of 
Achaia — such  are  the  men,  either  lawyers,  politicians,  or 
scholars,  who  formed  the  true  society  of  Pliny.  They 


Pliny's  Correspondence.  297 

were  all  men  of  serious  purpose,  cultured,  distinguished 
by  fortune,  honors,  and  character,  and  they  looked  upon 
the  combat  of  life  from  the  point  of  view  of  those  who 
have  entered  into  the  conflict. 

It  is  to  such  men  that  he  applies  for  advice  when  he  is 
placed  in  a  delicate  or  difficult  dilemma,  which  concerns   Pliny's  letter 

to  Voconius 

his  conscience  or  his  safety.      Let  us  quote  Pliny's  letter   Romanus. 
to  his  friend  Voconius  Romanus  : 

Did  you  ever  see  a  man  more  cowed,  more  down  in  the 
mouth,  than  Regulus  since  the  death  of  Domitian  ?  His 
crimes  under  Domitian  were  quite  as  bad  as  those  under  Nero, 
but  they  were  less  easy  of  detection.  He  began  to  fear  I  was 
angry  with  him,  and  so  indeed  I  was.  He  had  done  his  best  to 
imperil  Rusticus  Arulenus  ;  he  openly  rejoiced  at  his  death,  The  crimes 
and  even  published  a  book  in  which  he  abused  him,  and  called  of  Regulus. 
him  "an  ape  of  Stoic  philosophers."  He  made  such  a  savage 
attack  on  Herennius  Senecio  that  Metius  Carus  said  to  him  : 
"What  have  you  to  do  with  my  victims  ?  Did  I  ever  attack 
Crassus  or  Camerinus?"  These  were  men  whom  Regulus 
accused  and  ruined  in  Nero's  reign.  He  thought  I  was  indig- 
nant at  all  this  ;  and  so,  when  he  gave  a  reading  to  a  select 
circle  out  of  the  book  he  had  published,  he  did  not  invite  me. 

He  remembered,  too,  what  a  savage  attack  he  had  once 
made  on  me  in  the  Court  of  the  Hundred.  I  was  counsel  for 
Arrionilla,  a  case  which  I  had  undertaken  at  the  request  of 
Arulenus.  I  had  Regulus  against  me.  In  one  part  of  the  case 
I  laid  much  stress  on  an  opinion  given  by  Modestus,  an  excel- 
lent man,  who  was  then  by  Domitian's  order  in  banishment. 
Up  jumps  Regulus,  and  says  to  me,  "  Pray,  what  view  do  you  A  catch 
take  of  the  character  of  Modestus?"  It  would,  you  see,  have  question, 
been  very  dangerous  to  me  to  have  replied,  "  I  think  well  of 
him"  ;  it  would  have  been  an  infamous  thing  to  have  said  the 
contrary.  Well,  I  really  believe  that  Providence  helped  me 
out  of  the  scrape.  "  I  will  answer  your  question,"  I  replied,  A  clever  reply. 
"  if  this  is  the  matter  on  which  the  court  is  about  to  pronounce 
judgment."  He  could  say  nothing.  I  was  praised  and  con- 
gratulated for  having  avoided  compromising  my  credit  by  a 
safe  but  discreditable  answer,  and  for  having  escaped  the  snare 
of  such  an  invidious  question. 


298  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 

He  was  thoroughly  frightened,  and  rushes  up  to  Caecilius 
Celer  and  Fabius  Justus  and  begs  them  to  reconcile  us.     This 
was  not  enough  for  him  ;  he  goes  off  to  Spurinna,  and  with 
that  cringing  manner  which  he  always  has  when  he  is  fright- 
ened, he  says  to  him,  "  Pray,  go  and  call  on  Pliny  the  very  first 
thing  in  the  morning  (be  sure  you  do  this,  for  I  can't  endure 
my  anxiety  any  longer),  and  do  your  best  to  prevail  on  him 
not  to  be  angry  with  me."     I  had  risen  early  ;  there  comes  a 
Re  ulus seeks      message  from  Spurinna  to  this  effect,  "lam  coming  to  see 
a  reconciliation    you."      I  sent  back  word,  "lam    myself  coming  to  you." 

with  Pliny.  ,1T    ,,  ,,  .        ,  .    .    ,  .  „ 

Well,  we  met  on  the  way  in  Livia  s  portico ;  Spurinna 
explains  the  wishes  of  Regulus,  and  adds  his  own  entreaties,  as 
you  would  expect  from  a  very  good  man  on  behalf  of  one 
wholly  unlike  himself.  I  replied  to  him  :  "  You  will  yourself 
clearly  perceive  what  message  you  think  had  best  be  sent  back 
to  Regulus  ;  you  ought  not  to  be  misled  by  me.  I  am  waiting 
the  return  of  Mauricus  (he  had  not  yet  come  back  from  exile)  ; 
I  can't  give  you  an  answer  either  way,  because  I  mean  to  do 
whatever  he  decides  on,  for  he  ought  to  be  my  leader  in  this 
matter,  and  I  ought  to  be  simply  his  follower." 

A  few  days  afterward  Regulus  met  me  at  one  of  the  praetor's 
levees  ;  he  kept  close  to  me  and  begged  me  to  give  him  a 
private  interview.  He  then  told  me  he  was  afraid  that  a 
remark  he  had  once  made  in  the  Court  of  the  Hundred  still 
rankled  in  my  mind.  The  remark,  he  said,  was  made  when  he 
was  replying  as  counsel  to  myself,  and  to  Satrius  Rufus,  and 
was  this:  "Satrius  Rufus,  who  does  not  attempt  to  rival 
A  private  inter-  Cicero,  and  who  is  content  with  the  eloquence  of  our  own  day." 
Reculus'atfd"  ^^  answer  to  him  was:  "I  see  now  that  you  meant  it  ill- 
Pliny,  naturedly,  because  you  admit  it  yourself;  but  your  remark 
might  have  been  taken  as  intended  to  be  complimentary.  I  do 
try  to  rival  Cicero  and  I  am  not  content  with  the  eloquence  of 
our  own  day.  It  is,  I  think,  the  height  of  folly  not  to  propose 
to  one's  self  the  best  pattern  for  imitation.  But  how  comes  it 
you  remember  this  circumstance  so  distinctly  and  have  forgot- 
ten the  occasion  in  court  when  you  asked  me  what  was  my 
opinion  of  the  loyalty  of  Modestus  ? ' '  Pale  as  he  always  looks, 
he  turned  as  pale  as  death,  and  stammered  out  that  he  asked 
the  question,  not  to  hurt  me,  but  to  hurt  Modestus.  Note  the 
fellow's  vindictive  cruelty  ;  he  actually  confessed  to  himself 
that  he  wished  to  do  an  injury  to  one  in  exile.  He  added  an 


Pliny*  s   Correspondence.  299 

admirable  reason  for  his  conduct.     "  Modestus,"  he  said,  "  in 

a  letter  written  by  him  which  was  read  out  before  Domitian, 

used  the  following  expression  :     '  Regulus,  of  all  two-footed 

creatures    the    wickedest.'  "      And    Modestus    was    perfectly 

right.     This  ended  our  conversation.      I  did  not  wish  to  go 

further  in  the  matter,  or  to  tie  my  hands  in  any  way,  till  Maur- 

icus  had  returned.      I  am  very  well  aware  that  Regulus  is  a   The  formid- 

formidable  person.     He  is  rich,  influential,  courted  by  many,    ofRe^uTusr. 

feared  by  many,  and  to  be  feared  often  does  more  for  a  man 

than  to  be  loved. 

But,  after  all,  even  the  tyranny  of  fear  may  be  broken  ;  for  a 
man's  bad  credit  is  as  shifty  as  himself.  However,  to  repeat,  I 
am  waiting  until  Mauricus  comes  back.  He  is  a  man  of  sound 
judgment  and  great  sagacity,  formed  upon  long  experience,  and 
one  who,  from  his  observations  of  the  past,  well  knows  how  to 
judge  of  the  future.  I  shall  talk  the  matter  over  with  him,  and 
consider  myself  justified  either  in  pursuing  or  dropping  this 
affair,  as  he  shall  advise.  Meanwhile  I  thought  I  owed  this 
account  to  our  mutual  friendship,  which  gives  you  an  undoubted 
right  to  know  not  only  about  all  my  actions,  but  about  all  my 
plans  as  well.  Farewell. 

Such  was  Pliny's  genial  nature  that  he  enjoyed  the 
society  of  young  people  and  ladies.  Saturninus  used  ment  i 
to  submit  to  him  confidentially  the  literary  efforts  of  his 
young  and  charming  wife  ;  Fuscus  Salinator  and  Numid- 
ius  Quadratus,  two  talented  young  men  who  had  just 
been  admitted  to  the  bar,  firm  friends,  chose  Pliny  as 
model  and  master.  Pliny  could  not  refrain  from 
expressing  his  pleasure  at  this  : 

O  what  a  happy  day  [he  wrote  to  Maximus]  I  lately  spent  ! 
I  was  called  by  the  prefect  [mayor]  of  Rome,  to  assist  him  in  a 
certain  case,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  two  excellent 
young  men,  Fuscus  Salinator  and  Numidius  Quadratus,  plead 
on  the  opposite  sides  ;  their  weight  is  equal,  and  each  of  them    natorand  Nu- 
will  one  day,  I  am  persuaded,  prove  an  ornament  not  only  to   Quadratus 
the  present  age,  but  to  literature  itself.    They  evinced  upon 
this  occasion  an  admirable    probity,  supported  by  inflexible 
courage  ;  their  dress  was  decent,  their  elocution  distinct,  their 


youngeop 
an 


300  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

tones  were  manly,  their  memory  retentive,  their  genius  eleva- 
ted,  and  guided  by  an  equal  solidity  of  judgment.     I  took 
infinite  pleasure  in  observing  them  display  these  noble  quali- 
ties ;  particularly  as  I  had  the   satisfaction  to  see  that,  while 
e<       tnev  looked  upon  me  as  their  guide  and  model,  they  appeared 
to  the  audience  as  my  imitators  and  rivals.     It  was  a  day,  I 
cannot  but  repeat  it  again,  which  afforded  me  the  most  exqui- 
site happiness  and  which  I  shall  ever  distinguish  by  the  fairest 
^ — >^  mark.      For  what,    in- 

deed, could  be  either 
more  pleasing  to  me  on 
the  public  account  than 
to  observe  two  such 
noble  youths  building 
their  fame  and  glory 
upon  the  polite  arts  ;  or 
more  desirable  upon  my 
own  than  to  be  marked 
out  as  a  worthy  example 
to  them  in  their  pursuits 
of  virtue  ?  May  the 
gods  still  grant  me  the 
continuance  of  that 
pleasure !  And  I  im- 
plore the  same  gods, 
A  ROMAN  WOMAN.  yQU  are  witness,  to 

make  all  these  who  think  me  deserving  of  imitation  far  better 
than  I  am.     Farewell. 

Pliny  was  received  as  an  intimate  friend  in  the  family 

The  family  '  ' 

ofThrasea.  of  Thrasea,  where  we  find  so  many  noble  and  lovely 
women,  and  he  certainly  knew  what  he  was  talking 
about  when  he  praised  Fannia,  the  heroic  wife  of  Hel- 
vidius,  in  the  following  letter  : 

The  illness  of  my  friend  Fannia  gives  me  great  concern. 
She  contracted  it  during  her  attendance  onjunia,  one  of  the 
vestal  virgins,  engaging  in  this  good  office  at  first  voluntarily, 
Junia  being  her  relation,  and  afterward  being  appointed  to  it 
by  an  order  from  the  college  of  priests  ;  for  these  virgins,  when 
excessive  ill-health  renders  it  necessary  to  remove  them  from 


Pliny '  s   Correspondence. 


301 


Fannia's 
illness. 


Her  heroism. 


the  Temple  of  Vesta,  are  always  delivered  over  to  the  care  and 
custody  of  some  venerable  matron.  It  was  owing  to  her 
assiduity  in  the  execution  of  this  charge  that  she  contracted  her 
present  dangerous  disorder,  which  is  a  continual  fever, 
attended  with  a  cough  which  increases  daily.  She  is  extremely 
emaciated,  and  every  part  of  her  seems  in  a  total  decay  except 
her  spirits  ;  those  indeed  she  fully  keeps  up,  and  in  a  way  alto- 
gether worthy  the  wife  of  Helvidius  and  the  daughter  of 
Thrasea.  In  all  other  respects  there  is  such  a  falling  away 
that  I  am  more  than  apprehensive-  upon  her  account ;  I  am 
deeply  afflicted. 

I  grieve,  my  friend,  that  so  excellent  a  woman  is  going  to  be 
removed  from  the  eyes  of  the  world,  which  will  never  perhaps 
again  behold  her  equal.  So  pure  she  is,  so  pious,  so  wise  and 
prudent,  so  brave  and  steadfast  !  Twice  she  followed  her  hus- 
band into  exile,  and  the  third  time  she  was  banished  herself 
upon  this  account.  For  Senecio,  when  arraigned  for  writing 
the  life  of  Helvidius,  having  said  in  his  defense  that  he  com- 
posed that  work  at  the  request  of  Fannia,  Metius  Carus,  with  a 
stern  and  threatening  air,  asked  her  whether  she  had  made  that 
request,  and  she  replied,  "I  made  it."  Did  she  supply  him 
likewise  with  materials  for  the  purpose?  "I  did."  Was  her 
mother  privy  to  this  transaction?  "She  was  not."  In  short, 
throughout  her  whole  examination,  not  a  word  escaped  her 
which  betrayed  the  smallest  fear.  On  the'  contrary,  she  had 
preserved  a  copy  of  those  very  books  which  the  senate,  over- 
awed by  the  tyranny  of  the  times,  had  ordered  to  be  suppressed, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  effects  of  the  author  to  be  confiscated, 
and  carried  with  her  into  exile  the  very  cause  of  her  exile. 

How  pleasing  she  is,  how  courteous,  and,  what  is  granted  to 
few,  no  less  lovable  than  worthy  of  all  esteem  and  admiration  ! 
Will  she  hereafter  be  pointed  out  as  a  model  to  all  wives,  and 
perhaps  be  esteemed  worthy  of  being  set  forth  as  an  example 
of  fortitude  even  to  our  sex  ;  since,  while  we  still  have  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  her,  and  conversing  with  her,  we  contem- 
plate her  with  the  same  admiration  as  those  heroines  who  are  all'wives." 
celebrated  in  ancient  story?  For  myself,  I  confess  I  cannot 
but  tremble  for  this  illustrious  house,  which  seems  shaken  to 
its  very  foundations  and  ready  to  fall ;  for  though  she  will  leave 
descendants  behind  her,  yet  what  a  height  of  virtue  must  they 
attain,  what  glorious  deeds  must  they  perform,  ere  the  world 


A  model  for 


302 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny'  s   Time. 


her  mother. 


Pliny's  wide 


will  be  persuaded  that  she  was  not  the  last  of  her  family. 
It  is  an  additional  affliction  and  anguish  to  me  that  by  her 
death  I  seem  to  lose  her  mother  a  secon'd  time  ;  that  worthy 
mother  (and  what  can  I  say  higher  in  her  praise  ?)  of  so  noble 
a  woman  !  who,  as  she  was  restored  to  me  in  her  daughter,  so 
s^e  w'^  now  a&am  ^e  taken  from  me,  and  the  loss  of  Fannia 
will  thus  pierce  my  heart  at  once  with  a  fresh,  and  at  the  same 

time  reopened,  wound. 
I  so  truly  loved  and 
honored  them  both  that 
I  know  not  which  I 
loved  the  best  ;  a  point 
they  desired  might  ever 
remain  undetermined. 
In  their  prosperity  and 
their  adversity  I  did 
them  every  kindness  in 
my  power,  and  was  their 
comforter  in  exile  as 
well  as  their  avenger  at 
their  return.  But  I  have 
not  yet  paid  them  what 
I  owe,  and  am  so  much 
the  more  solicitous  for 
the  recovery  of  this 
lady,  that  I  may  have 
time  to  discharge  my 
debt  to  her.  Such  is 

the  anxiety  and  sorrow 
under  which  j  ^^ 

this  letter!  But  if  some  divine  power  should  happily  turn  it 
into  joy,  I  shall  not  complain  of  the  alarms  I  now  suffer. 
Farewell. 

Pliny  shows  by  his  friendships  that  he  had  interests 
outside  of  literature.  His  horizon,  his  field  of  observa- 
tion were  wide. 

Why,  then,  should  he  not  have  been  well  acquainted 
with  the  manners  of  the  higher  classes  of  his  time?  If 
he  is  not  a  good  authority  on  this  subject,  should  we  not 


A  VESTAL  VIRGIN.    Rome. 


Pliny's  Correspondence.  303 

be  compelled  to  suppose,  when  we  take  into  considera- 
tion his  opportunities,  that  his  intelligence  was  deficient  ? 
Now  those  who  admire  Pliny  the  least  cannot  go  so  far 
as  to  hold  this  view  ;  the  most  that  they  can  say  is  that 
his  intelligence  was  only  average.  But  was  he  easily 
prejudiced  ?  Was  he  a  man  of  whims  ?  By  no  means  ; 
to  convince  one's  self  of  the  contrary,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  read  him. 

We  are  forced,  however,  to  admit  that  he  had  a  gen- 
eral tendency  toward  optimism  ;  and  this  fact  may  affect  His  optimism. 
the  value  of  his  testimony  to  a  certain  degree.  The 
reign  of  Domitian  produced  little  effect  upon  his  mind. 
He  perhaps  shuddered  at  the  recollection  of  it,  as  if  it 
had  been  a  terrible  accident  ;  but  the  horrors  of  the 
epoch  did  not  leave  in  his  soul  that  bitterness  and  mel- 
ancholy which  characterize  the  pages  of  Tacitus,  his 
contemporary  and  friend.  The  reigns  of  Nerva  and 
Trajan  undid  as  far  as  possible  the  evil  that  Domitian 
had  done  ;  the  good  people  who  had  been  banished  from 
Rome  met,  on  their  way  back  as  they  were  returning 
from  the  land  of  exile,  the  informers  who  had  caused 
their  banishment.  Social  life,  interrupted  by  the  reign 
of  terror,  began  again,  more  brilliant  than  ever.  The 
people  rejoiced  in  the  shadow  of  legality,  and  in  the 
appearance  of  liberty. 

This  was  enough  to  satisfy  Pliny.  Life  had  always 
smiled  upon  him,  and  he  smiled  upon  life.  At  eighteen  Doubled  life, 
years  of  age  he  inherited  his  uncle's  wealth  and  name  ; 
there  were  no  obstacles  in  his  career  ;  he  passed  without 
any  struggle  through  the  successive  degrees  of  rank  ;  he 
experienced  no  reverses  of  fortune,  no  family  sorrows  ; 
true,  he  was  twice  a  widower,  but  Calpurnia,  his  third 
wife,  loved  and  admired  him  ;  the  joys  which  children 
bring  were  denied  him,  but  then  he  was  not  obliged  to 


304 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 


Pliny  not  a 
man  of  deep 
friendships. 


Pliny's 
urbanity. 


suffer  the  anguish  and  the  disappointment  so  frequently 
the  lot  of  a  father.  We  find  no  evjdence  that  Pliny  ever 
formed  a  deep  friendship,  like  that  of  Cicero's  for  Brutus, 
or  Montaigne's  for  Boetie  ;  his  correspondence  with 
Tacitus  reminds  us  of  that  of  Racine's  with  Boileau.  It 
was  cold  and  polite,  full  of  respect,  but  without  a  trace 
of  spontaneous  affection.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  Pliny 
never  felt  the  bitterness  of  a  false  friendship. 

How  could  one  who 
had  so  many  reasons  for 
counting  himself  happy, 
or  at  least  so  little  to  com- 
plain of,  be  disposed  to 
find  fault  with  people 
about  him  ?  How  could 
Pliny  help  acquiring  a 
habit  of  ready  kindness, 
when  life  was  so  kind  to 
him  ?  And,  in  fact,  he 
seems  to  have  been  one 
of  those  people  of  whom 
Quintilian  makes  fun  be- 
cause they  consider  it 
good  social  tact  to  ex- 
change compliments  upon 
every  occasion.  Pliny 
A  SACRIFICE.  was  j-oo  much  inclined  to 

praise  his  friends  with  excess.  He  was  criticised  for  this 
by  one  of  his  acquaintances,  to  whom  he  made  the  fol- 
lowing gracious  reply  : 

You  tell  me  certain  persons  have  blamed  me  in  your  com- 
pany, as  being  upon  all  occasions  too  lavish  in  the  praise  I  give 
my  friends.  I  not  only  acknowledge  the  charge,  but  glory  in 
it ;  for  can  there  be  a  nobler  error  than  an  overflowing  benev- 


Pliny's   Correspondence.  305 

olence?    But  still,  who  are  these,  let  me  ask,  that  are  better 
acquainted  with  my  friends  than  I  am  myself?    Yet  grant  there    His  praise  of 
are  any  such,  why  will  they  deny  me  the  satisfaction   of  so   his  "iends- 
pleasing  a  mistake  ?    For  supposing  my  friends  not  to  deserve 
the  highest  encomiums  I  give  them,  yet  I  am  happy  in  believ- 
ing they  do.     Let  them  recommend,  then,  this  malignant  zeal  to 
those,  and  their  number  is  not  inconsiderable,  who  imagine 
they  show  their  judgment  when  they  indulge  their  censure  upon 
their  friends.      As  for  myself,  they  will  never  be  able  to  per- 
suade me  I  can  be  guilty  of  an  excess  in  friendship.     Farewell. 

The  one  thing  lacking  in  Pliny's  life  was  sorrow.  No 
one  knows  himself  well,  and  no  one  can  know  others,  if  Pliny's  inex- 

penence  of 

he  has  been  petted  by  fortune,  and  if  he  has  never  suf-  sorrow, 
fered.  So,  while  Pliny's  social  relations  presented  him 
with  a  good  opportunity  for  observing  the  manners  of 
high  life  in  his  time,  his  character  was  not  such  as  to 
enable  him  to  interpret  profoundly  all  that  he  saw.  He 
preferred  to  dwell  upon  the  noble  and  lovely  aspects  of 
society.  He  did  not  aim  to  analyze  motives,  knowing 

1111  11  i  11-  He  is  not  an 

well   that   he  would   not   have   succeeded  in  such  an   analyzer  of 

11-  .        ,  ...  .  .  motives. 

attempt,  and  having  no  taste  in  that  direction  besides. 
He  had  no  desire  to  encroach  upon  the  domain  of  his 
friend  Tacitus. 

We  shall  not  find,  then,  in  Pliny's  writings  those 
lightning  flashes,  swift  and  penetrating,  which  reveal  the 
most  hidden  recesses  in  the  soul  of  a  man.  Nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  shall  we  have  to  make  any  allowance,  in 
drawing  our  conclusions  from  Pliny's  testimony,  for  the 
tendency  to  which  moralists  are  liable  of  unfair  suspicion 
in  judging  men.  For  so  great  is  the  pleasure  in  discov- 
ering the  secret  motives  for  actions  that  one  is  tempted 
to  imagine  them  where  they  do  not  exist.  After  all, 
there  is  more  justice  and  justness  in  the  gfood-will  of  a  Pliny's  good- 

„,.,..  willjuster 

Pliny  than  in  the  rage  of  a  Juvenal.     The  exaggeration  &">  Juvenal's 

*  .  bitterness. 

m  the  praises   bestowed  by  Pliny  upon  his  friends,  in 


306  Roman  Life  in  Pliny1  s   Time. 

which  the  polished  complaisance  of  the  man  appears, 
leads  us  not  so  far  from  the  truth  as  the  exaggeration  of 
Juvenal's  invectives. 

Satisfied  with  the  world  in  which  he  lived,  Pliny  did 

not  try  to  go  outside  of  it.     Charmed  by  the  brilliant 

society  of  the  patricians,  he  did  not  condescend  to  notice 

the  plebeians.     He  did  not  care  to  penetrate  into  the 

piiny  ignores       tavern   of  a  Syrophcenician,  and  to    mix  with  sailors, 

the  lower  .       .  .  re  11- 

classes.  sharpers,  fugitive  slaves,   comn-makers,  and  mendicant 

priests  of  Cybele.  In  high  society  he  tried  to  see  only 
the  pleasant  aspects  ;  and  in  society  as  a  whole  he  con- 
sidered only  the  upper  class.  Wretched  clients,  half- 
starved  parasites,  shabbily  clothed  poets,  people  engaged 
in  questionable  occupations,  all  this  miserable  crowd  had 
no  existence  for  him.  Whoever  desires  to  become 
acquainted  with  it  must  go  to  Juvenal,  not  forgetting, 
however,  to  be  on  his  guard  against  being  misled  by  the 
satirist's  severity.  When  Juvenal  depicts  for  us  this 
strange  world,  does  he  not  indulge  too  freely  an  artist's 

tendency  to  fancy  for  the  picturesque  ?  Does  he  not  take  a  certain 
pleasure  in  representing  glaring  wretchedness  because 
his  palette  was  rich  in  crude  colors  ?  Has  he  not  made 
the  shadow  too  black  upon  certain  portraits  and  certain 
pictures  ?  Pliny  has  said  very  little  of  any  slaves  but 
his  own,  and  yet  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  what  he 
has  told  us  of  their  condition  contains  more  general 
truth  on  the  subject  of  slavery  than  we  are  able  to  gather 
from  Juvenal's  satires. 

In  short,  our  author  was  not  able  and  did  not  try  to 
learn  the  whole  truth,  but,  with  the  exception  of  some 
exaggerations  in  his  eulogies,  he  has  told  us  nothing  but 
the  truth.  We  should  not  conclude  from  his  panegyric 
addressed  to  Trajan  that  Pliny  was  a  flatterer.  The 
tone  of  this  piece  of  rhetoric  is  doubtless  artificial  and 


Pliny's  Correspondence.  307 

false  ;  but  the  sentiment  is  sincere.  Moreover,  at  the 
time  when  Pliny  wrote  there  was  no  longer  any  danger 
in  saying  only  what  one  thought.  Trajan  imposed 
adulation  upon  no  one. 

Nor  was  there  any  special  merit  in  saying  only  what  Freedom  of 
one  thought.  Anxious  to  repair  the  evils  effected  by  ?pepf.h  enJ°yed 
Domitian,  to  inspire  with  a  sense  of  freedom  those  who 
had  been  exasperated  by  oppression,  the  new  emperor 
thought  it  his  best  policy  to  grant  some  liberty  to  the 
orators  and  writers.  Juvenal  and  Tacitus  at  this  time 
uttered  certain  proud  sentiments  which  caused  them  to 
be  taken,  wrongly  perhaps,  for  republicans.  Pliny  could 
therefore  without  danger  praise  and  blame  friends  and 
enemies  ;  he  did  not  need  to  consider  their  standing  at 
court. 

Besides  all  these  reasons  for  giving  him  our  confi- 
dence, there  is  another  still  more  decisive.  His  letters  His  letters  were 

written  for 

were  not  sent  to  his  friends  to  be  kept  by  them  in  their  publication, 
portfolios  ;  in  writing  them  their  author  manifestly  had 
in  mind  their  publication. 

Since  the  success  of  Cicero's  letters,  correspondence 
had  become  a  distinct  species  of  literature.  Books  were 
written  consisting  of  letters  on  various  subjects. 
Fashion  approved  of  this,  and  Pliny  in  spite  of  his  seri- 
ousness paid  his  court  to  fashion.  It  was,  then,  much 
less  to  his  correspondents  than  to  the  public  that  he 
addressed  his  missives.  This  is  very  apparent  to  one 
who  considers  the  fact  that  no  private  details  are  given 
in  the  letters.  What  he  writes  to  his  wife,  whom  he  Private  details 

.         .  .    omitted. 

appears  however  to  have  loved  dearly,  is  vague  and 
abstract : 

You  write  that  you  are  no  little  troubled  by  my  absence,  and 
find  your  only  solace  in  making  my  books  take  my  place  and 
setting  them  where  I  ought  to  be.  I  am  glad  that  you  miss 


308 


Roman  Life  in  Pliny's  Time. 


me  ;  I  am  glad  that  you  find  some  rest  in  these  alleviations. 
For  my  part,  I  read  and  reread  your  letters,  taking  them  up  in 
my  hands  many  times,  as  though  they  were  newly  come  ;  but 
this  only  stirs  in  me  a  keener  longing  for  you.  What  sweetness 
must  there  be  in  the  talk  of  one  whose  letters  contain  so  much 
that  pleases  !  Write,  nevertheless,  as  often  as  you  can,  though 
this,  while  it  delights,  still  tortures  me. 

Cicero  wrote  in  a  different  tone  to  his  Terentia.  This 
writtenSietters!y  was  because  he  did  not  meditate  his  letters,  but  wrote 
them  wherever  and  whenever  he  could.  "  I  take,"  said 
he  to  his  brother,  ' '  the  first  pen  that  I  find,  and  use  it 
as  if  it  was  good  "  ;  for  the  messengers  "  are  ready  to 
start,  with  their  traveling  hats  on  ;  they  say  that  their 
companions  are  waiting  at  the  door." 

Pliny  requires  more  leisure. 

Your  earnest  request  [he  says  to  Sabinus]  that  I  would  write 
to  you  very  frequent  and  very  long  letters  is  extremely  agree- 
able to  me.  If  I  have  forborne  to  do  so,  it  has  been  partly 
because  you  were  busy  and  I  did  not  like  to  disturb  you  ;  and 
partly  from  some  very  cold  and  uninteresting  affairs  of  my  own, 
which  engage  my  thoughts,  and  at  the  same  time  weary  me. 

We  perceive  in  the  writer  of  this  letter  the  man  who 
is  not  willing  to  let  anything  escape  from  his  pen  that  is 
not  carefully  composed.  He  would  never  have  put  to 
his  correspondents  the  following  questions  which  Cicero 
asked  his  : 

What  do  you  think  of  my  letters  ?  Do  you  not  think  that  I 
write  to  you  in  a  commonplace  style  ?  But  one  cannot  always 
maintain  the  same  tone.  A  letter  cannot  be  expected  to 
resemble  a  plea,  or  a  political  speech.  ...  In  letters  we 
ought  to  use  every-day  expressions. 

Pliny  certainly  understood  that  the  epistolary  style 
should  not  be  stilted,  but  he  did  not  admit  that  it 
should  be  conversational  ;  he  claimed  that  it  should  be, 
if  not  ornate,  at  least  elegant.  So  his  careful  compo- 


Leisure  re- 
quired by 
Pliny  for 
letter-writing. 


Cicero's 
questions. 


Pliny's  concep- 
tion of  the 
epistolary  style. 


Pliny '  s   Correspondence.  309 

sition  is  everywhere  shown  in  his  letters.  An  insignifi- 
cant note  is  embellished  with  quotations  and  studied 
phrases.  It  suggests  the  idea  of  a  jewel  in  a  casket 
worth  more  than  itself. 

You  tell  me  in  your  letter  [Pliny  says  to  Suetonius]  that  you 
are  extremely  alarmed  by  a  dream,  apprehending  that  it  fore-  suetonhfs"1  ° 
bodes  some  ill  success  to  you  in  the  case  you  have  undertaken 
to  defend,  and  therefore  desire  that  I  would  get  it  adjourned 
for  a  few  days,  or  at  least  to  the  next.  This  will  be  no  easy 
matter,  but  I  will  try, 

"  For  dreams  descend  from  Jove." 

Meanwhile  it  is  very  material  for  you  to  recollect  whether  your 
dreams  generally  represent  things  as  they  afterward  fall  out,  or 
quite  the  reverse.  But  if  I  may  judge  of  yours  by  one  that 
happened  to  myself,  this  dream  that  alarms  you  so  seems  to 
portend  that  you  will  acquit  yourself  with  great  success.  I  had 
promised  to  stand  counsel  for  Junius  Pastor  ;  when  I  fancied  in 
my  sleep  that  my  mother-in-law  came  to  me,  and,  throwing  puny's  dream, 
herself  at  my  feet,  earnestly  entreated  me  not  to  plead.  I  was 
at  that  time  a  very  young  man  ;  and  the  case  was  to  be  argued 
in  the  four  centumviral  courts  ;  my  adversaries  were  some  of 
the  most  important  personages  in  Rome,  and  particular  favor- 
ites of  Caesar  [Domitian]  ;  any  of  which  circumstances  were 
sufficient  after  such  an  inauspicious  dream  to  have  discouraged 
me.  Notwithstanding  this,  I  engaged  in  the  cause,  reflecting  Its  signification, 
that, 

"  Without  a  sign,  his  sword  the  brave  man  draws, 

And  asks  no  omen  but  his  country's  cause," 

for  I  looked  upon  the  promise  I  had  given  to  be  as  sacred  to 
me  as  my  country,  or,  if  that  were  possible,  more  so.  The 
event  happened  as  I  wished  ;  and  it  was  that  very  case  which 
first  procured  me  the  favorable  attention  of  the  public,  and 
threw  open  to  me  the  gates  of  fame.  Consider,  then,  whether 
your  dream,  like  this  one  I  have  related,  may  not  pre-signify 
success.  But,  after  all,  perhaps  you  will  think  it  safer  to  pursue 
this  cautious  maxim  :  "  Never  do  a  thing  concerning  the  recti- 
tude of  which  you  are  in  doubt"  ;  if  so,  write  me  word.  In  Pliny's  advice 
the  interval  I  will  consider  of  some  excuse,  and  will  so  plead 


3io  Roman  Life  in  Pliny' s   Time. 

your  cause  that  you  may  be  able  to  plead  it  yourself  any  day 
you  like  best.  In  this  respect,  you  are  in  a  better  situation  than 
I  was  ;  the  court  of  the  centumvirs,  where  I  was  to  plead, 
admits  of  no  adjournment ;  whereas,  in  that  where  your  case  is 
to  be  heard,  though  no  easy  matter  to  procure  one,  still,  how- 
ever, it  is  possible.  Farewell. 

The  fact  that  Pliny  had  the  public  in  mind  when  he 
wrote  his  letters  is  shown  by  the  choice  of  subjects,  and 
by  their  treatment. 

Do  not  expect  Pliny  to  chat  in  his  letters,  or  allow 

Pliny  s  subjects.       .  r  J 

his  pen  any  freedom.  He  will,  it  is  true,  consent  to 
speak  of  trifles,  but  only  for  the  sake  of  clothing  them 
in  graceful  language,  and  of  introducing  some  striking 
phrase.  With  him  no  unrestrained  and  charming  gos- 
sip, such  as  the  reader  enjoys  in  the  letters  of  the  lovely 
Marquise  de  Sevigne.  When  he  is  on  the  point  of 
His  studied  being  natural,  he  struggles  against  the  temptation  and 
resists  it,  a  fact  which  the  following  letter  illustrates  : 

It  is  a  rule  which  we  should  upon  all  occasions,  both  private 
and  public,  most  religiously  observe,  "  to  be  inexorable  toward 
ourselves,  while  we  treat  the  rest  of  the  world  with  tenderness, 
not  excepting  even  those  who  forgive  none  but  themselves  "  ; 
remembering  always  what  the  humane,  and  therefore,  as  well 
as  upon  other  accounts  great  Thrasea  used  frequently  to  say : 
"  He  who  hates  vice  hates  mankind."  You  ask,  perhaps,  who 
has  provoked  me  to  write  in  this  strain.  Well,  a  person  lately 
— but  of  that  when  we  meet — though  upon  second  thoughts  not 
even  then,  lest  in  condemning  and  exposing  his  conduct  I 
should  act  counter  to  that  maxim  I  particularly  recommend. 

Glance  through  a  collection  of  Pliny's  letters,  and  you 
will  readily  perceive  that  the  author  did  not  try  to  make 
his  pages  the  echo  of  the  rumors  that  he  heard,  the 
mirror  of  the  events  which  passed  before  him.  The 
arrangement  of  subjects  is  ingeniously  varied.  They 
succeed  each  other  with  a  diversity  skilfully  calculated 


Pliny' s  Correspondence.  311 

to  pique  and  awaken  the  attention.     Whatever  Pliny 
may  say,  the  order  of  his  letters  is  chronologic,  and  by  or^r°rn°nlogic 
no  means  abandoned  to  mere  chance  ;  a  certain  subject   Pliny's  letters, 
suggested  a  certain  subject ;  here,  an  antithesis  was  nec- 
essary, there,  a  comparison.     The  letters  of  recommen- 
dation, of  congratulation,  of  condolence  are  purposely 
made  to  alternate  with  descriptions,   or  discourses  on 
moral  or  literary  subjects.     Do  not,  then,  believe  Pliny 
when  he  writes  to  his  friend  Septicius  : 

You  have  frequently  pressed  me  to  make  a  select  collection 
of  my  letters,  if  there  really  be  any  deserving  of  a  special  pref-   An  artjst's 
erence,  and  give  them  to  the  public.     I  have  selected  them    coquetry, 
accordingly,  not  indeed  in  their  proper  order  of  time,  for  I  was  not 
compiling  a  history,  but  just  as  each  came  to  hand.     And  now 
I  have  only  to  wish  that  you  may  have  no  reason  to  repent  of 
your  advice,  nor  I  of  my  compliance ;  in  that  case,  I  may 
probably  inquire  after  the  rest,  which  at  present  lie  neglected, 
and  preserve  those  I  shall  hereafter  write.     Farewell. 

This  is  an  artist' s  coquetry — nothing  more.  The  eru- 
dition of  Tillemontand  of  Mommsen  has  proved  that  the 
chronologic  order  is  preserved  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
letters,  with  the  exception  of  the  first  book. 

So  we  must  not  hope  to  find  in  Pliny  that  abandon, 
that  amiable  carelessness,  which  is  the  charm  of  the  cor- 
respondence of  Cicero,  of  Madame  de  Sevigne,  or  of 
Voltaire.  This  attraction  is  lacking  in  our  author.  But 
should  the  historian  regret  the  fact?  M.  Boissier  has 
well  shown  the  danger  of  receiving  unreservedly  the 
testimony  of  the  great  Roman  orator  : 

In  his  judgments  upon  events  or  men,  he  often  passes  within 

a  few  days  from  one  extreme  to  the  other.     In  a  letter  dated    Cicero's  in- 

,    consistencies, 
the  last  of  October,  Cicero  speaks  of  Cato  as  an  excellent  mend 

and  declares  himself  well  satisfied  with  his  conduct  upon  a  cer- 
tain occasion.  At  the  beginning  of  November,  Cicero  accuses 
Cato  of  having  been  shamefully  malevolent  upon  the  same 


312  Roman  Life  in  Pliny's   Time. 

occasion.  This  inconsistency  is  explained  by  the  fact  that 
Cicero  relies  for  his  judgments  upon  his  impressions  ;  and  in  a 
mobile  soul  like  his  impressions  succeed  each  other  quickly  ; 
they  are  vivid,  but  very  different  at  different  times. 

This  appreciation  may  be  applied  with  equal  appro- 
priateness to  the  letters  of  Madame  de  Sevigne"  and  to 
those  of  Voltaire. 

Norash  We  have  no  such  rash  judgments  to  fear  in  Pliny's 

JpHny^se"etters  case.  He  intends  to  publish  his  letters,  and  to  publish 
them  during  his  lifetime.  He  will  not,  then,  give  us  his 
first  impressions  ;  whatever  he  shall  tell  us  will  always 
be  weighed  and  considered.  What  a  disgrace  if  his  con- 
temporaries should  discover  error  or  falsehood  in  his 
statements  !  His  optimism  may  lead  him  to  exaggerate 
the  good,  but  his  regard  for  the  reader  will  always  pre- 
vent him  from  fabricating  anything. 

To  sum  up,  if  the  information  which  Pliny  furnishes 
us  has  not  the  detailed  precision  of  Cicero's  confidences, 
it  is  valuable  at  least  for  its  certainty  and  its  serious- 
ness. He  has  not  expressed,  nor  did  he  try  to  express, 
the  whole  truth  ;  but,  we  repeat  it,  he  has  said  nothing 
that  was  not  true.  His  testimony  needs  to  be  comple- 
ted, but  not  rectified. 


INDEX. 


JEsculapius,  85, 104,  236,  286. 

Afer,  Domitius,  148,  183,  184. 

Afranius,  221. 

Agriculture,  112. 

Agrippa,  205. 

Amusements,  96,  Chap.  VIII.,  269. 

Anthology,  the,  244. 

Antium,  240. 

Antonines,  the,  19,  20,  24,  33,  59,  87, 109, 

136,  171,  244,  292. 
Appianus,  212. 
Apuleius,  44,  236,  237. 
Ardelions,  the,  162. 
Areius,  154. 

Aristides,  ^Elius,  117,  228,  232. 
Aristo,  Titius,  139,  176,  290,  296. 
Arrianus,  212. 

Arulenus,  Rusticus,  38,  40,  182,  297. 
Asiaticus,  Valerius,  182. 
Astura,  240. 
Atellans,  the,  in,  218. 
Athenaeum,  the,  24. 
Atticus,  122,  254,  287. 
Atticus,  Herod,  244. 
Attius,  217,  221. 
Augustus,  20,  34,  44,  47,  48,  50,  54,  58, 

63,72,83,  103,  116,  131,  143,  154,  167, 

184,    lS8,    189,    191,    20O,    2IO,    219,    221, 

231,  242. 

Aurelius,  Marcus,  19,  21,  24,  31,   127, 

155,  189- 

Balbus,  Theater  of,  218. 
Bar,  the,  Chap.  VI. 
Basilica  Julia,  141,  143,  147. 
Basilicas,  the,  143. 
Bath,  the,  68. 
Bathyllus,  222. 
Beast-fighters,  the,  213. 
Boissier,  M.,  21,  24,66,  86, 116, 120, 121, 

122,  255,  260,  266,  311. 
Brutus,  Marcus  and  Decimus,  200. 
Bulla,  Felix,  231. 


Bullatius,  244. 

Caelius,  186. 

Caesar,  65,  116,  190,  191,  199,  200,  210, 

219,  229,  245. 

Caesars,  the,  109,  128,  136. 
Caligula,  79,  157,  188,  196,  210,  273. 
Campus  Martius,  68,  130,  210. 
Capreae,  258. 

Carus,  Metius,  183,  297,  301. 
Cassius,  C.,82,  189. 
Cassius,  Dion,  157,  184. 
Cassus,  134. 
Cato  the  Old,  82,  90,  too,  114,  119,  122, 

271. 

Celibacy,  47,  131. 
Certus,  Publicius,  141. 
Children,    attitude    toward,    19,   132 ; 

education  of,  23. 
Chrysostom,  Dion,  84,  154,  244. 
Cicero,  20,  24,47,78,84,  105,  113,  114, 

124,   127,  138,  149,   171,  186,  220,  254, 

307,  308,  311,  312. 
Circensian  parade,  the,  192. 
Circus  Maximus,   the,    130,    179,   190, 

192,  195,  210,  247. 

Clarus,  Erucius,  139,296. 

Claudianus,  153,  233. 

Claudius,   85,    in,   120,   140,   156,    192, 

210. 

Clepsydra,  the,  144. 
Colosseum,  the,  199. 
Comedy,  221. 
Commerce,  112,  124. 
Commodus,  212. 
Constantine,  102. 
Contests,  gladiatorial,  198. 
Curio,  Caius  Scribonius,  198. 
Demetrius,  221. 
Digest,  the,  234. 
Diodorus,  212,  237. 
Dioscorides,  237. 
Domitian,  57,  60,  61,  130,  141,  142,  156, 

191,  197,  205,  210,  274,  289,  296,  303. 


Index. 


Donatus,  219. 

Dress,  32,  51,  157,  170. 

Drusus,  Livius,  153. 

Education,  Chap.  I. 

Elagabalus,  157,  195,  197. 

Ennius,  217. 

Epictetus,  158,  159,  185,  235. 

Eunapius,  237. 

Fabricius,  Aulus,  195. 

Favorinus,  20. 

Felix,  Pollius,  256,  259. 

Flaminius,  Caius,  113. 

Flavians,  the,  136. 

Formiae,  240. 

Forum,  the,  28,  71,  143,  192 

Forum  Pacis,  the,  130. 

Freedmen,  the,  103. 

Fronto,  21,  31,  127,  155. 

Furnishings,  house,  66,  67,  76,  78,  171. 

Gaius,  86. 

Galen,  237. 

Games,  the,  186. 

Gide,  45. 

Gladiators,  the,  200. 

Gracchi,  the,  116,  151,  271. 

Gracchus,  C.,  116,  153. 

Hadrian,  24,  86,  166,  185,  196,  201,  205, 

244,  248,  258,  259,  260. 
Helvidius,  300,  301. 
Herod,  188. 
Horace,  65,  83,  92,  96,  106,  131,  164,  166, 

174,  188,  221,  241,  242,  244. 
House,  the  Roman,  45,  Chap.  III. 
Immorality,  47,  54,  123. 
Informers,  the,  182. 
Italicus,  Silius,  288,  295. 
Jucundus,  Caecilius,  68,  122. 
Julian  Law,  the,  47,  54. 
Junia  Norbana,  law  of,  103. 
Justinian,  54,  103. 
Juvenal,  23,  29,  32,40,  46,  48,  52,  58,  81, 

89,  107,  109,  114,  126,131,  132,  166,179, 

180,  186,  203,  204,  215,  232,  281, 305, 307. 
Laberius,  Decimus,  219. 
Lappa,  Rubrenus,  223. 
Latro,  Porcius,  50. 
Legacy-hunters,  the,  131. 
Legouv£,  M.,  19,  28. 
Liberalia,  the,  32. 
Livy,  30,  45,  113. 
Lucan,  222,  233,  245. 


Lucian,  79,  154. 

Lucilius  Junior,  252,  254. 

Lucretius,  41,  76,  239,  240,  255,  276,  291. 

Lucullus,  63,  91,  272. 

Lupercus,  149. 

Macrinus,  211. 

Maculonus,  223. 

Maecenas,  178,  184. 

Marcellus,  Theater  of,  218,  222. 

Marriage,    Women    and,    Chap.    II.; 

of  slaves,  99;  sentiment  against,  132. 
Martial,  34,  60,  78,   123,  125,  144,  146, 

163,  169,  174,  175,   180,  181,  184,  210, 

240,  280,  281,  295,  296. 
Mattius,  C.,  219. 
Mauricus,  Junius,  38,  296. 
Maximus,  243,  296. 
Mimes,  the,  in,  218. 
Modestus,  297. 
Mommsen,  115,  119,  3:1. 
Musa,  Antonius,  241,  286. 
Naevius,  217. 
Nemesianus,  212. 
Nero,  57,  58,  79,  80,  81,  85,  133,  136, 154- 

155,  157,   184,   187,  189,  191,  195,196, 

199,    2OO,    2IO,  221,    222,    248,    258,    273, 
274,  286,  296. 

Nerva,  141,  184,  303. 

Nigrinus,  140. 

Nobilior,  M.  Fulvius,  211. 

Nominatus,  Tuscilius,  140. 

Novius,  219. 

Oratory,  28,  144. 

Ostia,  119,  231,  240,  264. 

Ovid,  52,  63,  219,  241,  270. 

Pacuvius,  217,  221. 

Palilia,  the,  93. 

Papia  Poppsean  Law,  the,  47. 

Paris,  222. 

Paulus,  ./Emilius,  101,  244. 

Pausanias,  212,  237,  251. 

Persius,  31,  32. 

Pertinax,  106. 

Petronian  Law,  the,  85. 

Petronius,  30,  74,  87,  108,  in,  131,  169,. 

172. 

Phaedrus,  162. 
Phillipus,  212. 
Philosophy,  24,  83,  290. 
Philostratus,  237. 
Pius,  Antoninus,  24,  49,  86,  158. 


Index. 


Plautus,  41,  42,  100,  118,  124,  125,  217, 
221. 

Pliny,  22,  24,  26,  30,  35,  38,39,41,  55,56, 
81,  84,  90,  93,  96,  97,  102,  105,  109,  133, 
139,  140,  141,  142,  143,  144,  146,  147, 
149,  150,  153,  156,  161,  164,  175,  176, 
J^3i  !97>  2I5.  216,  224,  226,  243,  260, 
265,  267,  268,  269,  271,  274,  279,  285, 
286,  287,  288,  290,  Chap.  XI. 

Pliny  the  Elder,  87,  94,  114,  117,  128, 
167,  191,  198,  215,  230,  284. 

Plutarch,  20,  21,  153,  160,  252. 

Polybius,  24. 

Pompeii,  68,  72,  122,  206,  207. 

Pompey,  52,  63,  69,  190,  231  ;  Theater 
of,  218. 

Pompilius,  Numa,  128. 

Pomponius,  93,  218. 

Praeneste,  59,  206,  242. 

Pretextatus,  61. 

Priscus,  Helvidius,  141,  182. 

Propertius,  179. 

Prudentius,  233. 

Pylades,  187,  222. 

Quadratus,  Nutnidius,  299. 

Quintilian,  22,  24,  26,  27,  28,  41,  94, 137, 
138.  I43>  148,  304. 

Regulus,  134,  146,  183,  184,  297. 

Reinach,  102. 

Resorts,  fashionable,  240. 

Romanus,  Voconius,  139,  297. 

Rufus,  Corellius,  288,  296. 

Rufus,  Pomponius,  139. 

Rufus,  Virginius,  296. 

Sabinus,  Calvisius,  94. 

Salinator,  Fuscus,  299. 

Sallust,  50,  63. 

Saturnalia,  the,  93,  95. 

Saturninus,  55,  139,  299. 

Schools,  public,  24  ;  of  philosophy,  24  ; 
for  slaves,  95  ;  gladiatorial,  205;  of 
pantomimists,  222. 

Scipio,  151. 

Secundus,  Pedanius,  81,  83,  86. 

Seneca,  20,  47,  48,  80,  84,  90,  94,  134, 
149,  162,  167,  168,  172,  179,  191,  216, 
225,  233,  241,  273,  276,  277. 


Septa,  the,  130. 

Serenus,  Annseus,  277. 

Silius,  140. 

Slaves,  the,  Chap.  IV.,  306. 

Society,  87,  Chap.  VII.,  303. 

Spurinna,  270,  274,  296,  298. 

Statius,  50,  225,  259,  280,  281. 

Strabo,  58,  229,  237,  255. 

Sublaqueum,  258. 

Suetonius,  34,  210. 

Sulla,  62,  219,  272. 

Syrus,  Publius,  219. 

Tacitus,  24,  72,  81,   in,   137,  182,  190, 

254,  280,  303,  305,  307. 
Tarentum,  242. 
Tatius,  Achilles,  212. 
Terence,  20,  40,  113,  217,  221. 
Terentius  Junior,  279. 
Tertullian,  234. 
Theodosius,  54. 
Thrasea,  56,  140,  141,  300. 
Tiberius,  85,  103,  128,  157,  182,  183, 189, 

193.  229,  231,  258. 
Tibur,  242,  258. 
Titus,  191,  211,  212. 
Tragedy,  221. 
Trajan,  19,  22,  26,  50,  57,  58,  109,  120, 

139,  140,  142,  153,   154,  156,  183,  184, 

191,  194,  200,  213,  216,  303. 
Tranquillus,  Suetonius,  265. 
Travel,  modes  of,  Chap.  IX. 
Tullus,  Domitius,  133. 
Ulpian,  38. 
Varro,  169,  251. 
Vatinius,  155. 
Veiento,  184. 
Velabrum,  the,  192. 
Verus,  Lucius,  196. 
Vespasian,  24,  167,  222. 
Via  .Sacra,  the,  130. 
Victor,  Aurelius,  58. 
Vicus  Tuscus,  the,  130,  192,  224. 
Villas,  258. 
Vindex,  Junius,  133. 
Virgil,  74,  126,  255,  270. 
Vitruvius,  63. 
Women  and  Marriage,  Chap.  II. 


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